Mandelson Files Released After Conservative Pressure Show Heavy Redactions and Almost No Starmer Messages

Keir Starmer chaired a cabinet meeting on June 2 while Labour MPs reviewed coverage of documents released after a Conservative request concerning Peter Mandelson. The 1,500 pages published the previous day did not contain new evidence supporting claims that Starmer had concealed knowledge of Mandelson’s connections with Jeffrey Epstein when appointing him ambassador.

Some material relating to Epstein was withheld because of an ongoing police investigation.

The documents did include a remark by Pat McFadden joking that Labour MPs were always asking “who can we tax in order to pay benefits to others,” a line that appeared on the front pages of several rightwing newspapers. Alex Burghart, the shadow Cabinet Office minister, told the Today programme that large sections of the released material were redacted.

He noted “acres and acres of white space, these constellations of asterisks, huge amounts of redactions” and said some redactions concerned national security and relations with the United States.

Burghart pointed out that many ministers had submitted nil returns when asked to hand over WhatsApp messages with Mandelson. He said there were almost no exchanges between Starmer and Mandelson in the published files and none between Peter Kyle and Mandelson.

” He added that Darren Jones, chief secretary to the prime minister, had been unable to assure the Commons the previous day that Starmer had not deleted any messages.

The documents were released after Kemi Badenoch tabled a humble address on the grounds that Starmer might have been covering up the extent of his knowledge of Mandelson’s Epstein links. m. m.

M. Peter Murrell was also due at the high court in Edinburgh for a narrative hearing following his guilty plea on embezzlement charges.