Sir Keir Starmer was challenged over the benefits bill after newly released documents revealed a Cabinet minister’s frustration with Labour MPs over reform of the welfare system.
Tory leader Kemi Badenoch used Prime Minister’s Questions to raise messages sent by Pat McFadden to Lord Peter Mandelson in which he complained colleagues just wanted to know “who can we tax in order to pay benefits to others”.
Mr McFadden meanwhile defended his bid to reform the welfare system when asked about the awkward messages for the first time since their publication on Monday as part of a document drop related to Lord Mandelson’s appointment as ambassador in Washington.
In the exchanges from last year, Mr McFadden told the peer colleagues were “asking the wrong questions”.
Mrs Badenoch brought up Mr McFadden’s acknowledgement that Sir Keir’s authority risked being destroyed by a Labour revolt over welfare reforms.
In messages in June 2025, shortly before the Government caved in to provide a series of concessions to rebels, Mr McFadden, who was the senior minister in the Cabinet Office and later became the Work and Pensions Secretary, said: “This welfare thing is very bad.”
Lord Mandelson said there was a “strong anti-Keir tide”.
On June 25, Mr McFadden said: “I think it’s very bad. Defeat, pull Bill or gut it all destroys his authority.”
Mrs Badenoch said in the Commons on Wednesday that the welfare bill had “risen by £20 billion” since Sir Keir came to office as she criticised the Government’s U-turn on welfare reform.
“He caved to all these MPs behind him who don’t want benefits brought down,” she said.
“Does the Prime Minister agree with his Welfare Secretary that that was the moment he lost his authority?”
Sir Keir responded by detailing his Government’s record on issues including NHS waiting lists and economic growth, and said: “They (the Conservatives) introduced a system that’s broken, and they put the bill through the roof, and now they want to give us advice on welfare? No thanks.
“The question should always be not what benefits people are entitled to, but what help we can give people to change their lives.
“That’s what the Work and Pensions Secretary was arguing, and he’s right about that.”
The Prime Minister’s weekly appearance in the Commons was the first opportunity MPs had to grill him about the content of the latest files related to Lord Mandelson being handed the prestigious diplomatic posting.
Mr McFadden said his messages to Lord Mandelson reflected the typical “back and forth” between politicians.
He told GB News: “Politics is a series of constant conversations and that’s what’s reflected in the material that was produced the other day.”
He added that he was not aware at the time of the extent of Lord Mandelson’s ties to paedophile Jeffrey Epstein, over which the peer was sacked in September 2025.
“Of course, you write things in these messages – and I’m sure everybody does – that they probably, when they wrote them, didn’t expect them to be published,” Mr McFadden said.
But he continued: “Having said that, you know, I’ve said both in private and in public that we need to change the question that the welfare system asks…
“What I mean by that is we need to move from a question which just asks: what benefits are you entitled to? To a question that says: how can we help you change your life?
“I think that is a progressive welfare reform question, because it puts work and opportunity at the heart of what you’re trying to do. I’ve been saying that in public and in private for a long time.”
He added: “I don’t think you can or should do welfare reform just by saying: ‘Here’s a sum of money we’ve got to save,’ and then you graft on the policy afterwards.”
Downing Street on Tuesday revealed the limited number of written messages between the Prime Minister and Lord Mandelson contained in the files was because Sir Keir uses disappearing WhatsApp messages.
No 10 said the Labour leader had followed guidance on the use of the auto-delete function, and pointed to ministers’ commitment to a review of the use of non-corporate communications channels, the terms of reference for which are being drawn up.
Rachel Reeves said most ministers used the function when asked whether it meant any exchanges she had with Lord Mandelson were not preserved.
The Chancellor told reporters during a visit to Bedfordshire: “Like most ministers, I do have disappearing messages in WhatsApp, but everything in the humble address was fully complied with by ministers across government, including myself and other Treasury ministers, as you would rightly expect.”
Mrs Badenoch made reference to the issue, and to speculation over Sir Keir’s future because of an expected leadership challenge, by speaking of “disappearing messages from a disappearing PM”.
The Tories would look at all options to pursue the Government over items missing from the Mandelson files, including potentially accusing Sir Keir’s administration of being in contempt of Parliament.
Mrs Badenoch’s spokesman said: “Kemi has been very clear that on her government phone she had no disappearing messages, and this is government business. It should be conducted on government phones. Where are the messages?”
He said that “lacunae of things” were missing from the documents, saying that “it just stinks” that “there is no record of when the decision was taken to appoint Peter Mandelson”.
He said the Conservatives “are looking at any route we can to get the Government to comply in full with the terms of the humble address”, through which MPs earlier this year forced the disclosure of documents relating to the peer’s time as ambassador.
