Happy Mandelson files’ release day, one and all. After months of speculation, the Cabinet Office has today finally released all the texts between ministers and Britain’s (former) man in Washington. Steerpike has been pouring over the various WhatsApps and brings to you his favourite selection of the texts that will doubtless soon be adorning Tory attack ads…
McFadden’s benefits admission
Pat McFadden’s texts during the great Labour welfare revolt last spring are among the most revealing. As well as admitting to Mandelson that the backlash over plans to cut disability benefits had shot Keir Starmer’s authority, he also gave the peer a revealing insight into the minds of colleagues. McFadden texted Mandelson on 24 May to say ‘Every meeting I have is “who can we tax in order to pay benefits to others”. They’re asking the wrong questions.’
Chagos sell-out rush
A key focus of Mandelson’s tenure in Washington was his attempt to hand the Chagos Islands over to Mauritius. ‘I am getting very worried about Chagos’ he texted Starmer spin-doctor Matthew Doyle in January last year. The following month, Jonathan Powell, the National Security Advisor, emailed him to complain about Chagos looming over an upcoming meeting, amid the prospect of more questions being raised ‘by British journalists… we don’t want to be banjaxed there.’
Keir’s ghosting trick
Mandelson, ever the consummate networker, was desperate to suck up new MPs. A month after the election, he texted Wes Streeting asking him for a number for the baby-faced Keir Mather. ‘I have been trying to message him without success and wondering if I have wrong number’, he wailed. Streeting duly sent it. ‘That’s one I have’, sighed Mandy. ‘I have messaged and called to no avail…’ At least one Keir comes out well from the Mandy files, eh?
The Thick Of It meta-moment
It is sometimes said that ‘the only difference between Westminster and The Thick Of It is that in The Thick Of It, people don’t go around saying “this is just like something out of The Thick Of It“.’ And the Mandy files offer rich proof of that. Amid efforts to give President Trump a ministerial red box, on 26 August, Mandelson emailed Morgan McSweeney to complain: ‘The saga goes on. See Olly [Robbins] email. This is like something out of Thick of it… I have gone tonto on this.’
Mandy refused to comply
And, of course, the final irony to Mandelson’s scheming in all this – he failed to actually comply with the government investigation into his phone messages. The files record that on 31 March, the senior responsible officer wrote to the Prince of Darkness – via his solicitors – to request any information held on his personal phone but that ‘Peter Mandelson declined to comply with this request. The government has no further recourse to search the personal devices of Peter Mandelson.’ Quelle surprise…
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