Mandelson said No 10 needed 'complete revamp' and criticised Starmer's leadership, messages show – BBC

Mandelson Said No 10 Needed 'Complete Revamp'
BBC News
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The latest documents on Lord Mandelson's appointment as the UK's ambassador to the US have been published – they include 340 emails and dozens of texts
In messages to minister Pat McFadden in May 2025, Mandelson said Starmer's team "don't think [the PM] knows what he wants" and suggested the government needed a "complete revamp"
Meanwhile, in a handwritten letter to then-Foreign Secretary David Lammy in November 2024, Mandelson said if appointed: "I would make sure you never regret it"
Earlier, No 10 said the release would provide "unprecedented" transparency – here's what was in the last batch
Starmer appointed Mandelson in December 2024, but sacked him nine months later after new details about his relationship with the late sex offender Jeffrey Epstein emerged
Mandelson is under criminal investigation over allegations of misconduct in public office and has repeatedly let it be known that he believes he has not acted criminally, did not act for personal gain and is co-operating with police
Edited by Alex Smith and Angus Thompson, with reporting from political correspondents Joe Pike and Jack Fenwick
Peter Mandelson repeatedly criticised Prime Minister Keir Starmer's leadership and No 10 in messages to Labour figures contained in the release of a huge trove of documents relating to his appointment as US ambassador.
Starmer appointed Mandelson to the top diplomatic post in December 2024, but sacked him nine months later after new details about his relationship with the late sex offender Jeffrey Epstein emerged.
More than 1,504 pages of WhatsApp messages, emails and other correspondence were released by the government on Monday. Among them was a May 2025 message in which Mandelson told cabinet minister Pat McFadden that Starmer "lacks verve as does the Cabinet as a whole".
The same month, McFadden criticised government policy on welfare and public spending, saying: "Every meeting I have is 'who can we tax in order to pay benefits to others," and adding, "they're asking the wrong questions". McFadden today addressed the comments on social media.
In July, Mandelson told pensions minister Torsten Bell that government "doesn’t do policy, generally speaking, well enough”, while he told McFadden that No 10 was "beleaguered and bereft", needed a "complete revamp" and that "most of them don't think Keir knows what he wants".
Shortly after the release of the files, Chief Secretary to the Prime Minister Darren Jones told the Commons that Mandelson's vetting file concerning his appointment – which has not been included in this release – has been shared with the Intelligence and Security Committee so that it can be published "when we are in a position to do so".
It is understood the Metropolitan Police have asked for the file to be held back while they investigate Mandelson on suspicion of misconduct in public office. Mandelson has denied wrongdoing. Jones said will be a general debate on Wednesday so further questions can take place.
As our political editor Chris Mason writes, "the bad news boomerang of Lord Mandelson’s appointment continues to whizz around and whack this government at regular intervals".
We are ending our live coverage now but you can read the full story here.
Throughout the afternoon, our political correspondents in Westminster have been sifting through the documents – here's six of the things they picked out:
David Lammy says he had expressed "concerns" over Lord Mandelson's appointment as US ambassador, in a letter to the Foreign Affairs Committee.
It's in response to a request to a series of questions from the committee about Mandelson's appointment.
In the letter, Lammy – who was foreign secretary at the time of the appointment – says when Mandelson's name emerged as a candidate, he "did discuss some concerns I had… as well as his perceived attributes" in conversations with No 10.
The now-deputy prime minister adds that these concerns were shared "by some Cabinet ministers and Labour figures" – though he says others told him Mandelson would be a "strong appointment in the context of a Trump presidency".
A file released today shows Mandelson wrote to Lammy, telling him he would make sure the government "never regret" appointing him as ambassador.
Lammy also says he had suggested former Conservative Chancellor George Osborne "should be considered given his close links with senior Republican figures" at a time when negotiating a trade deal with the US was a priority.
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Work and Pensions Secretary Pat McFadden offered no response as he was questioned by journalists this evening.
As we've been reporting, McFadden told Lord Mandelson in an email in May 2025: "Every meeting I have is 'who can we tax in order to pay benefits to others'."
Despite choosing not to speak to journalists on camera, McFadden appeared to address the comments on social media.
In a post on X, McFadden writes: "As I often say in interviews and in the Department, 'we have to change the question the system asks from 'what benefits are you entitled to' to 'how do we help you change your life'."
Joe Pike
Political correspondent
Former Health Secretary Wes Streeting published his WhatsApp exchanges with Lord Mandelson back in February.
So why are we now seeing new messages about a dinner party the pair had with members of the Murdoch media empire?
Today's document dump reveals details of a dinner just before the general election involving Mandelson, Streeting and various Murdoch executives including Lachlan Murdoch – the CEO of Fox Corporation and son of Rupert Murdoch.
Mandelson told Streeting he had received a message from Rebekah Brooks, the CEO of News UK which is also owned by the Murdochs, that "Lachlan really enjoyed the dinner" and "they all thought everyone in great form".
Streeting replied: "The highlight of the evening was you pulling out the Times [newspaper] app and ribbing Tony [Gallagher, editor of The Times]".
Mandelson said that "these people have to be kept on their toes" and Streeting responded that "it was masterfully done".
An ally of Wes Streeting tells the BBC: "During the election campaign, at the request of Keir’s office, Wes met with the editors of the Guardian, the Sun and Times, to win their endorsements for Labour. He is proud of the part he played in booting the Tories out and getting a Labour government elected."
On the discrepancy in published messages, allies of the former health secretary point out that Streeting published his communications starting from six months before Mandelson became US ambassador in February 2025.
Yet the UK government has published messages from six months before Mandelson’s appointment – which was announced in December 2024. And therefore their remit goes back to June 2024 and two additional exchanges between the pair have now appeared.
The BBC has approached Streeting for comment.
By Barbara Metzler
A first look at what the latest batch of Mandelson files reveals can be done by simply checking for words like “Starmer”, “Trump” and “tariffs”.
To go deeper into the documents requires a more detailed search, and we’re using artificial intelligence (AI) to help us do that.
AI can do more than search for a particular word, it can also return results based on its meaning. So rather than return results for just the word “embarrassing” it will look for language that meets the definition too.
Of course, anything the AI tool reveals will be double checked by journalists who will read the original source. Using artificial intelligence just speeds up the process of finding the most relevant documents.
With more than 1,500 pages of material about Mandelson released today, we also need resources that can help BBC journalists navigate them at speed.
We’re using tools we developed when the US Department of Justice released documents about convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein. The tool we developed allows us to download large files and split them into manageable chunks.
More than 1,500 pages of files – spanning three volumes – were published on the government website earlier on Monday
Joe Pike
Political correspondent
As opposition parties pounce on cabinet minister Pat McFadden's private admission of how some Labour MPs view the welfare state, the government is trying to fight back.
“Pat has said publicly many times that the question we should ask is not what are you entitled to, but how can we change your life?", a spokesperson says.
“That has been his whole approach as work and pensions secretary, focusing on how we best spread work and opportunities to young people in particular, rather than writing them off as the previous government did.”
Chris Mason
Political editor
This is a snapshot into how modern government functions – by phone, by email, and by WhatsApp.
Text exchanges as a real-time substitute for snatched verbal conversation, capturing contemporaneous mood, instinct and private views.
Take the seizing by the Conservatives of Pat McFadden’s private remarks about the alleged squeamishness of Labour MPs to cut benefits – it won’t be the last we hear of that.
And the ongoing trawling of more than 1,500 pages files has mileage in it yet. But two things stand out about the context of this now, versus earlier revelations in this saga.
Firstly, diminishing returns have kicked in – how much more capacity is there really for jaw-dropping revelations about the Lord Mandelson soap opera?
And secondly, the obvious political corollary of all this – the political damage inflicted on the prime minister – happens against a backdrop of his authority draining anyway after last month’s election results and a leadership race in all but name going on under his nose.
But clearly the government’s week would be rather better without all of this.
The bad news boomerang of Lord Mandelson’s appointment continues to whizz around and whack this government at regular intervals – and the sustained and ongoing headaches it inflicts upon them.

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By Ben Chu
The day after US President Donald Trump announced his sweeping "Liberation Day" tariffs on 2 April 2025 Peter Mandelson wrote an email to No 10 chief of staff Morgan McSweeney and Foreign Office chief Olly Robbins.
The email, dated 3 April 2025, begins: “A day after President Trump’s tariff announcement, some initial observations from here and thoughts on next steps.”
The rest of the email is missing, presumably redacted.
On 8 May 2025 a trade agreement that would reduce the new tariffs imposed on the UK by the US was agreed.
Jack Fenwick
Political correspondent
The US President signed his 'big, beautiful bill' in to law in July last year
Information at risk of undermining national security or international relations has been redacted from these files.
And it's interesting to look at some of the documents where large swathes have been blocked out.
In July last year, Lord Mandelson wrote a letter to Chancellor Rachel Reeves, titled: "Reflections on the ‘One Big Beautiful Bill Act'."
That was the piece of legislation in the US which introduced sweeping tax cuts, reductions in funding for healthcare and food benefits and a boost to defence and border spending.
It was incredibly controversial in Washington, and was framed by the Democrats as taking away money from low-income families to give tax cuts to the rich.
Getting to see Lord Mandelson’s thoughts about such a crucial piece of legislation would be a fascinating insight into the sort of advice he was sending back to London about Trump’s America.
But the entire letter from Lord Mandelson to Rachel Reeves is redacted.
Documents in the latest batch of files show Lord Mandelson repeatedly lobbied several government ministers in his unsuccessful attempt to become chancellor of the University of Oxford.
Mandelson spoke to several Parliamentary Labour Party members, all Oxford University alumni, including Emma Reynolds, Shabana Mahmood, Ed Miliband, Torsten Bell, Georgia Gould, Ellie Reeves, Kirsty McNeill and James Murray.
Between 3 August and 28 October 2024, Mandelson urged Reynolds to register for the vote and contribute to Labour's "first real shot" of having an Oxford Chancellor from their party. The string of messages appears to have been unanswered by Reynolds.
Mahmood, when also lobbied by Mandelson in August 2024, seems not to have replied either.
Mandelson ran for the post in 2024, finishing fourth out of 38 candidates.
The position, which dates back at least 800 years, is now held by former Conservative Party leader William Hague.
For context, Mandelson studied philosophy, politics and economics at the University of Oxford before entering politics. Here's a reminder of his early life, political career and fallout:

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Rupert Carey
BBC Verify
Peter Mandelson said he was "getting very worried about Chagos" in a message to Matthew Doyle – the then No 10 communications chief – sent on 18 January 2025.
Doyle's response and four further messages between the pair – over a six-minute period – have been redacted, presumably on the grounds of national security.
It is in reference to the Chagos Islands – a British overseas territory. Starmer's government wanted to cede sovereignty of the islands to Mauritius while paying £101m ($136m) a year to lease back a joint UK-US military base on the largest island Diego Garcia.
The deal has been shelved after US President Donald Trump called it an "act of total weakness" – despite his administration expressing support for it previously.
Joe Pike
Political correspondent
A single Whatsapp message from cabinet minister Pat McFadden to Lord Mandelson is likely to be hugely damaging, and opposition parties have already jumped on it.
Before he was work and pensions secretary, McFadden described conversations he had with other Labour politicians about the welfare system and public spending: "Every meeting I have is 'who can we tax in order to pay benefits to others'… they're asking the wrong questions."
Conservative leader Kemi Badeoch has responded that "Pat McFadden has said in private what he and the prime minister deny in public".
She argues that Labour is now "the Welfare Party", and adds: "They think our taxes are their money to spend, rather than the result of the hard work of the people in our country who deserve so much better."
A spokesperson for the work and pensions secretary said McFadden has "fully complied with the humble address and handed over all messages".
"His only contact with Peter Mandelson since he left government has been to urge him to think about the victims in all this and apologise to them."
Jack Fenwick
Political correspondent
There is a focus on Mandelson's vetting after it emerged a few months ago that the UK security vetting team recommended against giving him clearance need to become ambassador to the US.
That process culminated in a nine-page summary document which is believed to outline issues that the process threw up, and gave the explicit recommendation not to grant clearance.
One source said the document contained "juicy" aspects of the vetting – which will not be published today after the Met Police asked for it to be held back.
It has been seen by Parliament's Intelligence and Security Committee (ISC), which has been involved in today's publication.
There are many other vetting documents that the government has said are not in scope of this process. That means not even the ISC got to see those files.
The committee's chair Lord Beamish criticised the withholding of documents last month and said the government "does not currently have the authority to so do" without agreement from the ISC.
It's understood the government received legal advice which said that any sharing of the more extensive documents would constitute a risk to national security.
The BBC understands Lord Mandelson doesn't believe there were any security concerns, wasn't asked to do anything to deal with any and there has been a muddling of key details relating to these claims.
Plaid Cymru's Liz Saville Roberts says "it remains obvious that Epstein's victims simply weren't on the radar of the boys' club in control at No 10".
In response, Jones says No 10 isn't just ran by men, but agrees that it's important there is a "diversity of view" in the government's decision making.
Liberal Democrat MP Lisa Smart says ministers showed a "staggering lack of judgement" over Mandelson's vetting, and questioned why so much business relating to "one of the most controversial public appointments in recent years" took place on WhatsApp.
Jones said in response that non-corporate communication channels, including WhatsApp, can be used between ministers and senior officials in government. But, he says, when a decision is made it must be recorded on official channels.
The session in the Commons with the PM's Chief of Staff Darren Jones has now come to an end, stick with us as we continue to comb through the latest batch of so-called Mandelson files.
Conservative shadow secretary for Northern Ireland Alex Burghart
Responding to Jones in the Commons, Conservative shadow secretary for Northern Ireland Alex Burghart claims many documents are missing in the release and that some ministers have not handed over their WhatsApp messages.
Burghart adds that Prime Minister Keir Starmer is "almost non-existent" in the 1,000 pages of newly-released files.
"It is as though somehow he appointed Peter Mandelson as ambassador without any trace of that decision at all," he adds, calling it "beggar's belief".
A government spokesperson earlier said the release will provide "unprecedented government transparency".
Prior to the release it was made clear the vetting file on Mandelson would not be included. It’s understood the Metropolitan Police have asked for it to be held back while they investigate him on suspicion of misconduct in public office. Mandelson has denied wrongdoing.
Burghart argues that the documents show that the PM "did not follow the instructions he was given by then cabinet secretary on 11 August 2024", when he was told to get security vetting done "before the appointment was confirmed".
"It is a failure visible from space. It is failure that will define this prime minister's premiership."
Joe Pike
Political correspondent
The negativity about Keir Starmer and his government is plain to see among these reams of private messages.
Lord Mandelson seems to be a constant critic although, to be fair to the peer, he has experience from serving under three prime ministers.
Mandelson claims that former chief of staff Morgan McSweeney effectively viewed the PM's instincts as weak, and that Starmer has always been on a "cycle" of "advance/ buckle/ advance/ buckle".
The BBC has approached Morgan McSweeney for comment.
Most of the Labour peers withering quips come in messages to cabinet minister Pat McFadden.
Mandelson says that the Number 10 operation is "beleaguered and bereft".
He argues that they "don't work as a team, they are not led and none of them really knows what Keir thinks or wants."
But his final sentence is utterly condescending: "In fact most of them don't think Keir knows what he wants."
By Thomas Copeland
Looking at the contents pages for the documents released today by the government we get an idea of how much correspondence has been disclosed relating to Lord Mandelson’s time as UK ambassador to Washington.
The files are spread over three volumes and 1,504 pages. In total, we can see there are:
Today’s release is more than 10 times the size of the files published on 11 March which amounted to one 147-page PDF document.
Jones confirms Mandelson's vetting file – which has not been included in this tranche of documents – has been shared with the Intelligence and Security Committee.
It’s understood the Metropolitan Police have asked for the file to be held back while they investigate him on suspicion of misconduct in public office. Mandelson has denied wrongdoing.
Jones says it was shared with the committee for the purpose of agreeing redactions, so that it can be published "when we are in a position to do so".
"Highly sensitive personal data inputs" collected during the interview process – such as how much money an individual might have, or personal relationships – hasn't been shared, Jones explains, to protect "the integrity of the whole system".
The government believes – with the exception of the documents currently withheld at the request at the police – it has "duly discharged the duties set out in the humble address", Jones says.
Jones says over 300 individual documents were referred to the Intelligence and Security Committee for approval on redactions.
He confirms that no material has been redacted on the grounds of prejudice to national security or international relations without the committee's approval.
Jones then addresses the Metropolitan Police investigation into Mandelson, saying the force has asked for some material to be withheld due to the ongoing investigation.
This material will be published at the conclusion of the investigation or when it is no longer prejudicial to publish it.
People might have questions on what they perceive to be "missing messages", Jones adds.
"Some messages may not have been backed up where devices may have been changed, or disappearing messages were turned on for reasonable and permitted reasons."
As a reminder, you can follow along with Jones's comments in the Commons by clicking watch live above.
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