Key findings from the documents
The UK government has been forced to publish more than 1,000 pages of documents relating to Lord Peter Mandelson’s appointment as Britain’s ambassador to the US.
FT reporters are currently scouring the tranche of files, which include emails between Mandelson and members of Sir Keir Starmer’s cabinet and his top officials.
Here are some key findings:
In a handwritten letter to then foreign secretary David Lammy in November 2024, Mandelson said: “If you were minded to appoint me I would make sure you never regret it.”
Pat McFadden, then Cabinet Office secretary and now work and pensions secretary, told Mandelson in relation to the Parliamentary Labour Party: “Every meeting I have is ‘who can we tax in order to pay benefits to others’.”
The former ambassador described Number 10 as “beleaguered and bereft”, adding that Starmer’s premiership was stuck in a cycle of “advance/buckle/advance/buckle”.
A senior UK Security Vetting official asked for feedback on Mandelson’s controversial vetting interview because he wanted to “assure folk that it went well”.
Mandelson told colleagues he had “gone tonto” over the “saga” of procuring a British ministerial red box as a gift for US President Donald Trump.
Mandelson suggested that the prime minister meet Peter Thiel during a visit to London by the controversial tech venture capitalist, and described OpenAI chief executive Sam Altman as his “chief AI buddy”.
Mandelson was directly in touch with Reform UK leader Nigel Farage in a bid to “keep him nice without complete success”.
Many cabinet ministers were effusive in their praise for Mandelson after his return to frontline politics. Douglas Alexander, who was trade minister at the time, called him “the Comeback Kid” in a private message in December 2024.
Opposition parties seize on Labour benefits admission
Opposition parties have seized on messages showing work and pensions secretary Pat McFadden criticising Labour MPs for wanting to raise taxes to pay more benefits.
In a message to Mandelson in May 2025, McFadden, then Cabinet Office secretary, complained “every meeting I have is ‘who can we tax in order to pay benefits to others’.” He added: “They’re asking the wrong questions.”
Conservative leader Kemi Badenoch said the party of government was no longer the Labour Party and had instead become “the Welfare Party”.
“It doesn’t matter who is in charge of these people, the party for Benefits Street will tax us all into poverty to pay for more welfare,” she wrote on X.
Robert Jenrick, Treasury spokesperson for the Reform party, said it was an “extraordinary admission”. He added: “Labour are the party of shirkers, not workers.”
Wes Streeting part of group message chat with Mandelson
Labour leadership contender Wes Streeting had a group message chat with figures including Peter Mandelson and the former Downing Street chief of staff Morgan McSweeney.
In February 2025, Streeting urged the group to do a “reunion”, saying he had “enjoyed (if that’s the word) the references to ‘Roger Liddle’s dining table’ in the Pogrund/ Maguire book”.
Lord Liddle’s supper club was reportedly where key Labour figures strategised the party’s return to government before winning the 2024 general election.
When Mandelson replied that the dining table was “Ready for Netflix documentary”, Streeting responded: “Please tell me we’re getting Mandy the Movie 2?”
Streeting has sought to distance himself from the disgraced former ambassador. Writing for the Guardian in February, the then health secretary said he was “never a close friend of Peter Mandelson,” labelling attempts to link the pair as “smears”.