UK minister says newly released Mandelson messages are ‘embarrassing’

A senior UK Cabinet minister said Tuesday that newly released messages linked to Peter Mandelson's appointment as ambassador to the US were "embarrassing," while revealing that some exchanges with Mandelson were stored on a personal phone stolen last year.

"Look they are embarrassing, I'm not hiding from that," Work and Pensions Secretary Pat McFadden told the BBC when asked about messages attributed to him in which he reportedly said: "Every meeting I have is who can we tax in order to pay benefits to others."

The comments emerged after more than 1,500 pages of documents related to Mandelson's appointment were released Monday, in what is believed to be the final major disclosure of records connected to the case.

The documents include correspondence in which Mandelson sought to reassure then-Foreign Secretary David Lammy ahead of his appointment.

"I would make sure you never regret it," Mandelson wrote in a letter to Lammy, according to the newly released documents.

Other messages disclosed Monday showed Mandelson criticizing Prime Minister Keir Starmer's team in exchanges with McFadden in July 2025, describing it as "beleaguered and bereft."

McFadden said he had been "very, very open" with officials that some messages exchanged with Mandelson were stored on a personal cellphone that was stolen last year.

He added that the device was his personal phone and not a government-issued one.

The disclosures also showed that Mandelson "declined to comply" with a Cabinet Office request to provide "any information held on his personal phone."

On Monday, Starmer's office said publication of the documents would provide "unprecedented" transparency.

Starmer appointed Mandelson in December 2024 but dismissed him nine months later following new revelations about his relationship with late convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein.

In an investigation published in April, British daily The Guardian reported that Mandelson failed security vetting clearance, but that the decision was later overturned by the Foreign Office, allowing him to assume the ambassadorial post.

Starmer has since faced calls to resign over allegations that he misled parliament when he said "full due process" had been followed in Mandelson's appointment.