Keir Starmer is preparing for more political agony today as the Government prepares to publish a second wave of files relating to disgraced former US ambassador Peter Mandelson.
The trove of documents, set to clock in at more than 1,000 pages, will reportedly be released later today and could include a host of embarrassing private exchanges between the former diplomat and top ministers. Early reports suggest that while there will be a significant number, the documents won’t, however, contain any record to mitigate serious security concerns and flags raised over his appointment.
They come after the Prime Minister acquiesced to demands from MPs to release documents relating to Lord Mandelson’s appointment in 2024 after questions over how the peer was vetted and what was known about his links to paedophile Jeffrey Epstein. Mr Starmer has repeatedly apologised to Epstein’s victims over the saga and claimed the New Labour architect lied to him.
But the scandal has engulfed his government in recent months, sparked fury among backbench MPs, and called Mr Starmer’s judgement into question. A government spokesperson said: “We are committed to complying with the humble address in full. The second tranche of documents will be among the largest publications ever laid in parliament. That reflects the transparent and thorough process we have followed, in line with established precedent for humble addresses.”
New UpdatesToday08:10 BST
The first tranche of documents relating to Lord Mandelson’s appointment was published in March and contained details of how the Labour peer was handed a £75,000 severance payment when he was sacked as the UK’s ambassador to Washington.
Liam DoyleToday08:04 BST
Today’s document release will be the second largest submitted to the House of Commons in its history, after the Chilcot report, which was handed to the lower Parliamentary chamber in 2016.
The UK’s Iran inquiry found that the 2003 invasion of Iraq, under then PM Tony Blair, was unnecessary, based on flawed intelligence, and launched prematurely before diplomats had exhausted all available peaceful options.
The document release will be the largest since the Chilcot report(Image: PA)
The new tranche of documents is set to number around 1,000 pages, containing a vast amount of information.
Among the files set to be published later will be all electronic communication between Mandelson and senior servants, ministers and special advisers.
Liam DoyleToday07:43 BST
A Cabinet minister has this morning said the volume of information included in the Mandelson files will be “unprecedented”.Health Secretary James Murray said the Government was fully complying with its promise to release information to the public. Critics say too much information is expected to be redacted from the release. Some information cannot be released as it may compromise a police investigation into Peter Mandelson.Asked about the criticism, Mr Murray told Sky News: “I think the level of transparency is going to be unprecedented. The volume of information that’s going to be put out is unprecedented. It’s right, we do that. We’ve been very clear that the appointment of Mandelson was wrong. Parliament then decided that this information would be made public. The government’s fully complying with that and it’s important that we honour that commitment to transparency.”
James Murray said the files would include an ‘unprecedented’ amount of information(Image: Ben Bauer/PA Wire)
Several sources cited by The Guardian reportedly said that Mandelson had been asked to provide assurances over commercial conflicts of interest before he was handed the ambassador role.
However, they said the same was not required for matters of national security.