Sir Keir Starmer has said it is “a little bit far-fetched” to suggest the theft of his former chief of staff Morgan McSweeney’s phone was in any way linked to the release of files on Lord Peter Mandelson.
There are concerns exchanges relating to Lord Mandelson’s appointment as British ambassador to the US could be lost as a result of the snatching of the mobile phone in London in October 2025.
Speaking to broadcasters in Helsinki, the Prime Minister insisted the phone had been stolen and brushed off suggestions the claim was an attempt to obfuscate.
He said: “The phone was stolen. It was reported to the police. There’s a transcript of the call in which Morgan McSweeney gives his name, his date of birth, the details of the phone, and the police confirm that it was reported.
“Unfortunately, there are thefts like this. It was stolen. It was reported at the time, the police have acknowledged and confirmed that. That is what happened.”
He added: “The idea that somehow everybody could have seen that sometime in the future there’d be a request over the phone is, to my mind, a little bit far-fetched.”
Health Secretary Wes Streeting has said the loss of messages was a “cock-up rather than conspiracy” while Downing Street has been keen to emphasise the phone theft happened “months before” MPs compelled the Government to release correspondence related to Lord Mandelson’s appointment as the UK’s ambassador to the US.
The Prime Minister’s official spokesman said: “So, the point the Prime Minister was making was that the idea that the theft was connected to the humble address is categorically untrue.”
He said the Government is committed to complying with the humble address, which was used to compel the release of correspondence, “in full”.
The spokesman added: “All government departments, ministers and relevant individuals have been asked to provide all the relevant information they hold in the scope of the humble address.”
Kemi Badenoch said it was “very suspicious that the phone got stolen” after it became “clear that a lot of documents were going to come out”.
The Tory leader also told broadcasters in London on Thursday: “Anyone could have stolen that phone. It could have been China, it could have been Russia.
“I think there are a lot of questions that need answering, and what we need is for Morgan McSweeney and, let’s be frank, Keir Starmer to come clean about what happened and why this report was not escalated to the security services.”
Even a Labour MP disputed the official narrative, with Kingston upon Hull East MP Karl Turner branding him “McSwindle”.
Fellow backbench Labour MP Richard Burgon said on X that he had submitted a formal Parliamentary written question on the topic, asking whether Mr McSweeney reported the theft to the Cabinet Secretary and followed the rules in doing so, what the Cabinet Office’s guidelines were on backing up data and what impact the theft had on national security.
Mr Burgon said: “Given the serious impact this could have on getting the truth about the Mandelson scandal… we need answers.”
MPs moved in February to force the publication of tens of thousands of documents amid questions over what was known about the peer’s links to paedophile financier Jeffrey Epstein before he was handed the Washington job.
Mr McSweeney quit Downing Street last month, with many having blamed him for pushing the appointment.
Concerns have been raised over the fact that the phone of the Prime Minister’s then-top aide was not backed up, leading to the loss of the correspondence.
Police have taken the unusual step of releasing a transcript of Mr McSweeney’s 999 call reporting the phone theft.
In the course of the call, he gives his name, a personal email address and a home address outside London, and he says the device is a Government phone and that he has called his office to get it tracked.
The Metropolitan Police wrongly recorded the theft as having taken place in east London rather than Westminster after Mr McSweeney wrongly gave his location as Belgrave Street rather than Belgrave Road during the October 20 call.
This meant officers checked the wrong CCTV and concluded there were no realistic lines of inquiry to follow. This is now being reviewed.
The Cabinet Office does have some of the messages between Mr McSweeney and Lord Mandelson, it is understood.
Lord Mandelson, a political appointment rather than a career diplomat, was sacked from his Washington role in September last year over his links with Epstein, who died in 2019.
The first tranche of documents related to the peer’s appointment was published earlier this month, with more to follow.
