Politics Home | Mandelson Said The Starmer Operation Needed “Complete Revamp”, New Messages Show

The second tranche of documents related to Mandelson’s appointment were published on Monday (Alamy)

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On Monday afternoon, the government published the second tranche of documents relating to Mandelson’s appointment and tenure as UK ambassador to Washington. 

The files, which number more than 1,000 pages, show that Mandelson said that Starmer is “consistently going for direction B” in a July 2025 exchange of messages with Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, Pat McFadden, who was then chancellor of the duchy of Lancaster. 

In the messages, Mandelson told McFadden: “I went in to No 10 after I saw you. It is beleaguered and bereft. It requires complete revamp and infusion of purpose and confidence to get anywhere.”

While discussing staff in No 10, Mandelson suggested the team around Starmer “are not led and none of them really know what Keir thinks or wants. In fact most of them don’t think Keir knows what he wants”.

Mandelson was sacked from his role as UK ambassador to Washington in September 2025 after new details came to light about his relationship with the paedophile financier Jeffery Epstein. The former Labour peer later resigned from the House of Lords, with the government committing to removing his peerage.

Starmer later accused Mandelson of betraying the country and lying to Downing Street about the depth of his relationship with Epstein. The row led to the resignation of Starmer’s chief of staff and long-time ally Morgan McSweeney, and has contributed significantly to Labour MP unrest with the PM’s leadership.

Mandelson is currently being investigated by the police over allegations that he leaked confidential government documents to Epstein while he was a minister in the New Labour government. 

In February, the leader of the opposition, Kemi Badenoch, tabled a humble address requesting the disclosure of documents relating to Mandelson’s appointment and time as ambassador to Washington, with the first publication taking place in March. 

Former Foreign Office permanent secretary Olly Robbins was sacked following reports in April that Mandelson had not cleared the UK Security Vetting (UKSV) procedure for appointment as US ambassador in late January 2025, before starting the role the next month. 

After leaving his position, Robbins accused No 10 of having had a “dismissive approach” to the vetting process. 

Addressing the House of Commons on Monday afternoon, the Chief Secretary to the Prime Minister, Darren Jones, told MPs that the publication of the second tranche of documents had cost the Cabinet Office alone over £1m.

The files published on Monday also reveal that Mandelson told then-foreign secretary David Lammy in November 2024, ahead of his appointment, that Lammy would “never regret it” if he were to appoint Mandelson to the role of US ambassador. 

Following the local elections in 2025, in which Reform UK made major gains, the files show McFadden asked Mandelson how Labour should fight Nigel Farage’s party, describing the results as “a shellacking”.

Mandelson suggested that Starmer should be more “Trumpian” in his approach.

“The problem is the government doesn’t give a sense of crusading to turn round and change Britain. That’s what I mean by panache, verve,” he messaged.

“It does start right from the top, I am afraid, but you must all contribute more to it by breaking out of the Whitehall system and mould and appearing less like business as usual conventional ministers and, dare I say it, behaving in a more Trumpian risk-taking and dare-devil way.

“At the moment ministers seem to be looking more to the Whitehall machine and the party base than to the public who are crying out for leadership.”

Other disclosures reveal that on the week of the government’s U-turn over winter fuel payments last year, McFadden told Mandelson in WhatsApp messages that the situation “doesn’t feel good for Keir”. Speaking about conversations with Labour MPs, McFadden said: “Every meeting I have is ‘who can we tax in order to pay benefits to others’. They’re asking the wrong questions”.

The government was forced to abandon reforms to the welfare system after large numbers of Labour MPs threatened to inflict what would have been a humiliating defeat on Starmer.

McFadden also told Mandelson that the government climbdown on welfare would “destroy his [Starmers] authority”.

Messages published today also reveal that Mandelson told McFadden that he thought the former health secretary Wes Streeting was having an “early mid-life crisis” after he raised concerns that Israel was “committing war crimes before our eyes”.