‘Almost 100,000’ documents could be linked to Mandelson’s appointment as ambassador – UK politics live

While Keir Starmer believes the files will prove Mandelson lied during his vetting, the publication of communications with ministers and senior officials has the potential to prove embarrassing for the government.

Publication of the full tranche of documents could take some time, as parliament’s Intelligence and Security Committee (ISC) must review any items that the government wishes to withhold for national security reasons.

The committee has yet to set out a timetable for making its decisions on what can be released, PA reports.

The Metropolitan Police has also asked for some documents to be withheld, claiming it could jeopardise its criminal investigation into allegations Mandelson passed on market-sensitive information to Epstein when he was business secretary following the 2008 financial crisis.

The number of documents, and the sensitive nature of some of them, mean the files could be released piecemeal rather than in one large tranche.

The total number of government documents related to Peter Mandelson’s appointment as US ambassador could be close to 100,000, the BBC reported without citing a source for the information.

The Intelligence and Security Committee (ISC) wrote to Keir Starmer yesterday to set out its expectations ahead of the release of the Mandelson documents.

In a communication from Lord Beamish and Jeremy Wright, the committee said it is up to the government to decide which of the documents, relating to the ambassadorial appointment, should not be published.

Labour MP Neil Duncan-Jordan has said Keir Starmer should resign as prime minister and called for a “renewal” of the party.

“We can’t just keep going on like this – lurching from one crisis to the next,” the MP for Poole told BBC News.

He added that he wishes to see a “renewal of the Labour party” to restart its “offer to the British public”.

Most of England’s smart motorway schemes have proved poor or very poor value for money, according to assessments by the government agency that built them.

Official evaluations from National Highways, some of which had been held back by the Department for Transport (DfT) since completion in 2023, showed that a slew of big projects to convert the hard shoulder on the M1, M4, M6 and M25 were rated as “poor” or “very poor” value.

The AA said the long-awaited reports revealed smart motorways had been a “catastrophic waste of time, money and effort”, although the government said they showed the project could allow more vehicles to travel safely.

National Highways was given the go-ahead by the DfT to finally publish 16 reports known as “popes” (post-opening project evaluations) on Thursday. Of the 11 motorway schemes that were evaluated over a five-year period since opening and given a financial assessment, only two were rated positively.

Smart motorways, which were rolled out widely in England from 2013, were designed to increase capacity relatively cheaply, by converting the hard shoulder into a live lane and using electronic overhead signs to manage traffic and close lanes in emergencies.

More than 50 Labour MPs have urged the government to reconsider its decision not to pay compensation to so-called Waspi women in the latest sign of backbench unrest.

They were among 92 parliamentarians who signed a letter co-ordinated by Labour MP Rebecca Long-Bailey saying it was the “wrong decision” not to award compensation to women over pension age changes, PA reports.

The letter to work and pensions secretary Pat McFadden says:

We collectively represent millions of women born in the 1950s and express our grave disappointment that the government has once again chosen to reject compensation for the 1950s women affected by state pension age changes.

This was the wrong decision, but you have the opportunity to put this right.

The signatories included Labour MPs who have spoken out publicly about their frustrations in recent days, including Rachael Maskell, Paula Barker, Neil Duncan Jordan and John McDonnell.

The smell of death is in the Westminster air. Labour’s King Rat Peter Mandelson has again cast his sulphurous odour of villainy around the palace, and contamination may drag a decent, well-intentioned Labour leader down with him.

That’s the tragedy. Nothing about Keir Starmer’s life purpose, attitudes, tastes, morals or values resembles Mandelson’s and his venal world of corrupted power, where mega-billions buy anyone anything. Not friends; they had nothing in common. For all Mandelson’s pedigree, reaching into the party’s past, he never seemed to have a single Labour value or egalitarian instinct. Labour was a vehicle.

But even if the men were never close, Mandelson worked to cast his mantle over Starmer’s team, just as he had exerted his malign and worldly influence on Labour for decades. Morgan McSweeney was his young protege, learning the Mandelsonian way of political cynicism; others in the cabinet, too, were surely seduced by that aura of “grownup” reckoning with the “real world”.

McSweeney was widely reported to be the one pushing Mandelson’s appointment to Washington, a clever idea to plant a man without scruples to schmooze a president with even fewer. Clever, that is, if you can skip past the minor irrelevance of his intimate friendship with a man who trafficked young girls for influence with the mighty.

All the great and bad whose names tumble out of the newly released files – Noam Chomsky! – shrugged it off. Somehow, the grooming gangs of Rotherham cause more visceral disgust and outcry than exploitation of these equally vulnerable victims procured for the lusts of the wealthy.

A former No 10 aide has quit as chief executive of the influential lobbying firm he co-founded with Peter Mandelson following revelations from the Jeffrey Epstein files.

Ben Wegg-Prosser stepped down on Friday as the head of Global Counsel after emails revealed the extent to which he and Mandselson had involved the convicted child sex offender when they were setting up the company in 2010.

The fallout from the release of the files in the US has triggered a crisis at Global Counsel, which has had close ties to Labour and lobbied the government on behalf of clients including the controversial tech firm and government contractor Palantir.

The departure of Wegg-Prosser, formerly Tony Blair’s director of strategic communications at No 10, was communicated to clients on Friday by the firm as it fought to stave off damage from the scandal. One major client, Barclays, had already cut ties.

The companay also told clients on Friday that it had reached an agreement for the divestment of Mandelson’s shares in the company and that the transaction would be completed later in the day subject to approvals. The peer left the company’s board two years ago when a company owned by the former Barack Obama adviser Jim Messina invested in it, but retained shares.

“The completion of this transaction will bring to an end any connection between Global Counsel and Peter Mandelson,” said chair Archie Norman.

Just a reminder that a Downing Street spokesperson confirmed last night that Keir Starmer has full confidence in his chief of staff Morgan McSweeney.

There have been calls by backbenchers for the sacking of McSweeney, whom many blame for his ally Peter Mandelson’s appointment to the ambassadorship.

Asked if the prime minister agreed with calls for his chief of staff to be sacked, the prime minister’s official spokesperson said:

It’s full confidence.

There have been renewed calls today for McSweeney to go, as Starmer continues to face the fallout of the Mandelson scandal.

The Scottish government has announced plans for a housing grant scheme in rural areas, PA reports.

First minister John Swinney set out the Rural and Island Housing Grant Scheme at the National Farmers Union Scotland conference on Friday.

He said the scheme, which will have an indicative budget of up to £20m over four years, will help ensure people can “put down roots in rural and island Scotland, or move back to the communities where they grew up”.

He added:

It will build on our positive track record in affordable housing – with 10% of homes being delivered in rural and island communities – and underpin our work supporting the development of the new housing agency, More Homes Scotland.

Nearly 60,000 unauthorised migrants and convicted criminals have been removed or deported from the UK since Labour took office, the Home Office has said.

The announcement came amid claims that the government was promoting “harmful stereotypes” by equating migration with criminality.

Officials said the figure was the highest number in a decade.

The department said 15,200 people who were in the UK illegally were removed since the 2024 election – a 45% increase on the previous 19 months.

A statement said 43,000 people left voluntarily after being told they were in the UK illegally. Deportations of foreign national offenders have risen by 32%, with more than 8,700 deported under this Labour government.

The Home Office also released footage showing a recent removals flight, with detainees, their faces blurred, being escorted on to a plane destined for eastern Europe.

The figures have been released as the home secretary, Shabana Mahmood, said she would “scale up” the number of deportations even further.

A thinktank previously run by a Labour minister and the prime minister’s chief of staff is alleged to have paid a PR firm to investigate journalists who were looking into its funding.

Labour Together, once run by Morgan McSweeney and then by Josh Simons, now a Cabinet Office minister, hired APCO Worldwide to investigate journalists from the Guardian, the Sunday Times and other outlets and to identify their sources, according to claims in the Substack publication Democracy for Sale.

McSweeney left Labour Together in 2020 when he joined Keir Starmer’s team. He remained close to the thinktank, which was a key ally of Starmer as he led Labour to election victory in 2024. Simons was director of Labour Together when APCO was reportedly hired.

Sources close to McSweeney said he had not taken the decision to hire APCO and it was a matter for Labour Together. The Guardian has approached Simons, Labour Together, the Labour party and APCO for comment. Democracy for Sale reported that Simons, McSweeney, Labour Together, the Labour party and APCO all declined to comment on the record.

The allegations come as McSweeney faces severe pressure over his role in Downing Street in the aftermath of new disclosures about Peter Mandelson in the Epstein files. Downing Street has rejected calls for his removal, but Labour backbenchers say his role in Mandelson’s appointment as US ambassador makes his position as the prime minister’s most senior aide untenable.

Meanwhile, the Labour MP Ian Byrne said “the red flags were there” at the time of Mandelson’s appointment, saying “it was well-known what he was”.

Speaking to Sky News, the left-winger said Keir Starmer “needs a miracle” to save his premiership.

He said:

I’m sure he is angry because I’d be angry if I was him. However, he should have listened to the people who were flagging up that this was a catastrophic appointment.

And he didn’t. And that’s why we are here today.

Byrne said that the prime minister needs to “look at the consequences of his actions,” adding:

What he’s enabled by putting Mandelson in that job… and that may come out, we don’t know what he’s done while he’s been in there.

Home Office minister Mike Tapp has blamed the vetting process for the reason Peter Mandelson was able to be appointed US ambassador.

Defending the prime minister, Tapp told Sky News that Keir Starmer “wasn’t the vetting officer” and said that he had acted quickly.

He said:

He wasn’t the vetting officer here. We do know that there were lies told during that vetting procedure. Now that’s not me saying putting any blame on anybody else.

The government ultimately oversees this and makes the decision. And that’s why the apology is really important.

And when we see the information laid out for the public, of course, we have to act on that and ensure that nothing like this can ever happen again.

There will be “soul-searching” in Labour this weekend after a bruising week for the party, an MSP has said, as she called for “accountability” over the decision hire Peter Mandelson.

Speaking on BBC Radio Scotland, Labour MSP Monica Lennon – a leadership contender in 2021 – said just mentioning Mandelson’s name “makes my skin crawl”, accusing him of abusing his position and public trust.

“It’s not what anyone in the Labour party wants to be talking about right now,” she said. “The good work the government is doing has been completely overshadowed by these scandals.”

She added:

I think there will be a lot of soul-searching over the weekend.

The prime minister clearly is distressed by the events and he is pointing fingers at Peter Mandelson, but there are questions for everyone at the top of government.

It can’t just be someone steps down from a role, or there’s an apology, there needs to be accountability.

Parliament’s intelligence and security committee (ISC) has published a letter explaining how documents relating to Mandelson’s appointment as US ambassador will be published.

A key requirement is that all communications between Mandelson and ministers, government officials and special advisers (such as Starmer’s chief of staff Morgan McSweeney) must be published.

The ISC also laid out that the cabinet secretary should decide which documents should be made public with an expectation that this happens “very shortly.”

If there are any documents that could have implications for national security or international relations, then they should be handed over to the ISC, who will decide whether or not to publish them.

The one saving grace for Starmer is that no candidates have stepped forward to call him out – and many Labour MPs are waiting for that person to make the first move.

Even as a number of names have been put forward as candidates who could take the top job – such as Angela Rayner and Wes Streeting – none have issued a direct challenge so far. That’s causing frustration among some of the party’s newest MPs.

Speaking to my colleague Jessica Elgot, one MP said they had “contempt” for leadership contenders who had not taken their chance. “Sometimes in politics, it’s about leadership. We needed leadership.”

Another told her: “If you are not brave enough to be first out of the traps, you don’t deserve to be prime minister.”

Number 10 clearly hoped that Starmer’s apology to Epstein’s victims on Thursday would help him regain the trust of the public and his MPs.

He said yesterday that the victims of Epstein had “lived with trauma that most of us could barely comprehend”, and added: “I want to say this. I am sorry – sorry for what was done to you, sorry that so many people with power failed, sorry for having believed Mandelson’s lies and appointed him, and sorry that even now you’re forced to watch this story unfold in public once again.”

His statement centered around the view that Mandelson lied to him about the depth of his friendship with Jeffrey Epstein after his conviction as a sex offender.

That apology hasn’t done what he wanted.

Instead, the criticism has continued from all corners of the party. One of the most stinging lines came from Harriet Harman, a sitting member in the Lords and a former deputy leader of the Labour party, who said the scandal made him look “weak, naive and gullible.”

In an interview with Sky News podcast Electoral Dysfunction, she said: “He’s got to stop blaming Mandelson and saying, ‘he lied to me’.

“Because actually he should never have been considering him in the first place. And to say ‘he lied to me’ makes it look weak and naive and gullible. So it’s just completely the wrong thing.”

The path forward, in her view, is a “full reset” of his advisers in No 10.

Downing Street has defied calls to remove Keir Starmer’s most senior aide, insisting Morgan McSweeney retains the prime minister’s confidence, as frustration grows over a wait for documents on Peter Mandelson, which some fear could last for weeks.

Amid warnings from Labour backbenchers that McSweeney’s survival would leave Starmer’s position “untenable”, Starmer apologised to victims of Jeffrey Epstein for appointing Mandelson, a close friend of the convicted child sex offender, as US ambassador.

A day after a chaotic Commons deal to release vetting papers over Mandelson’s appointment left many Labour MPs mutinous, there was still fury about the role of McSweeney, the PM’s chief of staff.

One Labour MP said: “People want [McSweeney] to go, more than ever before. The current situation is unsustainable.”

Karl Turner, the Hull East MP and a vocal critic of the current No 10 operation, said McSweeney staying would leave the prime minister’s position “untenable”. “I don’t want the PM to go. What I want is the PM to make changes,” he told the BBC.

Downing Street officials pointed to Starmer’s strong defence of McSweeney in the Commons on Wednesday, in which he said nothing had changed. Supporters of the PM are aware that shedding his chief of staff could leave Starmer more directly in the firing line in a future crisis.

Read the full story: No 10 defies calls to sack Morgan McSweeney over Mandelson appointment

Hello and welcome to Friday’s edition of our UK politics blog.

To start, I want to take you back to what feels like another era… July 2024.

Keir Starmer’s message to the British people during the last election cycle was pretty simple: Labour were the grown-ups in Parliament and were the only party who could be trusted to govern the country.

The campaign could be summed up in one persistently repeated sentence: “Only a Labour government can break this cycle and stop the chaos.”

And yet, once again, the prime minister has faced his worst week in office. Anger has continued to grow, with the party unable to stay on message. Labour MPs feel this latest incident is a problem of his own making, given he chose to appoint the so-called “Prince of Darkness” Peter Mandelson as US ambassador.

But his MPs are divided over how to move on. So far No 10 has held out calls to sack Starmer’s chief of staff Morgan McSweeney, who pushed for Mandelson’s appointment back in 2024.

That won’t stop the outrage though. Speaking on the Today programme, Labour MP Simon Opher said there needs to be a “clearout” of advisers in number 10, with a specific shout-out for McSweeney to leave.

“There’s a lot of anger amongst Labour MPs, because really we want to, I mean, yesterday, I want to be talking about the cancer care plan, not about Peter Mandelson,” he said.

“So I think what we need to do, I think what needs to really happen is that we need to, Keir Starmer needs to change his advisers in Number 10, I think he’s been badly advised, and he’s been really let down, particularly on this decision.

Pressed on whether this meant McSweeney should go, he said: “I think so yes”.

“If my chief of staff had done this I think he would be looking for another job to be honest.”