{"id":619757,"date":"2026-06-03T23:45:15","date_gmt":"2026-06-03T23:45:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/619757\/"},"modified":"2026-06-03T23:45:15","modified_gmt":"2026-06-03T23:45:15","slug":"starmers-chief-secretary-consoled-mandelson-after-dismissal-as-us-ambassador-undisclosed-texts-show-politics","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/619757\/","title":{"rendered":"Starmer\u2019s chief secretary consoled Mandelson after dismissal as US ambassador, undisclosed texts show | Politics"},"content":{"rendered":"

The prime minster\u2019s close ally Darren Jones sent his commiserations to Peter Mandelson<\/a> after he was sacked as US ambassador in messages that were not disclosed as part of the humble address release.<\/p>\n

Jones\u2019s texts also included requests for advice on the reshuffle and disobliging comments about the then business secretary Jonathan Reynolds and the influence of trade unions.<\/p>\n

The chief secretary to the prime minister was one of the ministers who said they had nothing to release because they had previously deleted messages or changed phones.<\/p>\n

Mandelson, who was sacked last September because of revelations about his close friendship with the late sex offender Jeffrey Epstein<\/a>, declined to hand over his own messages. The release of the files was prompted by a parliamentary motion that demanded the mass release of government communications relating to Mandelson.<\/p>\n

In the messages, reported by the Spectator, Jones wrote to Mandelson: \u201cYou\u2019ve been doing such a great job, and you worked wonders with Trump. I\u2019m so sorry about today.\u201d<\/p>\n

In a previous message, Jones, then chief secretary to the Treasury under Rachel Reeves, told Mandelson that it did not \u201cfill you with confidence\u201d that Reynolds and the former deputy prime minister Angela Rayner were in charge of the government\u2019s growth plans along with Reeves.<\/p>\n

He also reportedly said he had \u201clost faith\u201d in Reynolds\u2019 advisers \u201cwhen, on a call about Port Talbot, they repeatedly took a different position to us in HMT \u2018because that\u2019s what the unions want\u2019.\u201d<\/p>\n

According to the report, Jones also requested \u201cthoughts\/advice\u201d about a proposed reshuffle and said he hoped to be appointed business secretary, technology secretary or energy secretary. He also said: \u201cI also like MoD but think that\u2019s unlikely.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cDBT [Department for Business and Trade] my preference \u2013 everyone fond of Jonny but perception that DBT not firing on full cylinders,\u201d he wrote.<\/p>\n

Jones is understood to have replaced his phone after he began his role at the Cabinet Office and took over responsibility for cybersecurity.<\/p>\n

In a pointed comment on Wednesday night, he told MPs that only Mandelson would be able to disclose any messages between the two of them.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe only person who could release those messages, if they had them, would be Peter Mandelson, who has refused to disclose his phone to the process,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Starmer is also previously reported to have texted Mandelson with a warm message that did not appear as part of the humble address release.<\/p>\n

The Spectator reported he had written to the former ambassador upon his appointment saying: \u201cYou\u2019ll be brilliant in challenging circumstances. And after many years of discussions, we get to work side by side. I really look forward to that.\u201d<\/p>\n

Jones told parliament on Monday that the Cabinet Office accepted there were messages that could not be retrieved. \u201cMembers should note 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 \u2013 including before the dismissal of Peter Mandelson or the passing of the humble address \u2013 myself included.\u201d<\/p>\n

More than 1,500 pages of documents were published by the government on Monday afternoon, which the government said was \u201can unprecedented piece of government transparency\u201d. However, MPs and others have raised questions about missing documents \u2013 some of which have been withheld because of a police investigation into Mandelson for misconduct in public office.<\/p>\n

Jones has said the documents will be published when the police deem it is no longer prejudicial to their inquiry.<\/p>\n

The prime minister\u2019s former chief of staff, Morgan McSweeney, told a foreign affairs select committee inquiry that he had exchanged messages with Mandelson on the day of the reshuffle, shortly before Mandelson was dismissed. Those messages have not yet been disclosed.<\/p>\n

McSweeney is also said to have sent questions to Mandelson about his relationship with Epstein. That note, as well as Mandelson\u2019s responses, did not appear in the second tranche of documents.<\/p>\n

Also missing was a nine-page summary document produced by United Kingdom Security Vetting (UKSV), outlining areas of concern over Mandelson\u2019s security clearance. Their initial advice was overruled by the Foreign Office\u2019s then permanent undersecretary Olly Robbins.<\/p>\n

Speaking in the Commons on Wednesday, Jones said he wanted to apologise to MPs and to Epstein\u2019s victims for the fact that, he believed, he personally had benefited from knowing Mandelson. \u201cI want to take the opportunity to ask myself questions about my relationship with Peter Mandelson,\u201d Jones said.<\/p>\n

While he said he did not ignore concerns about Mandelson\u2019s appointment \u2013 because none were raised \u2013 he said he had acted a certain way around Mandelson because he perceived him to be influential.<\/p>\n

\u201cDid I at best treat Peter Mandelson differently because I perceived him to have influence and power in the Labour party? I think the answer to that is yes, I did. Have I benefited from that relationship? I think in part the answer to that is yes. And for that I would like to apologise to the house, the victims \u2026 and commit to doing something about it.\u201d He said he would like to meet victims of Epstein, \u201cif that were appropriate\u201d.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The prime minster\u2019s close ally Darren Jones sent his commiserations to Peter Mandelson after he was sacked as…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":619758,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[59,57,58,50,56,54,55],"class_list":["post-619757","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-united-kingdom","tag-gb","tag-great-britain","tag-greatbritain","tag-news","tag-uk","tag-united-kingdom","tag-unitedkingdom"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/619757","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=619757"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/619757\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/619758"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=619757"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=619757"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=619757"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}