How a ‘convenient’ phone theft means Peter Mandelson truth may be lost forever
The full story of Peter Mandelson’s appointment as US ambassador may never be known, as messages with Morgan McSweeney, responsible for him landing the role, are lost forever in a “conveniently odd” theft.
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What’s the story?
Morgan McSweeney, no longer Keir Starmer’s chief of staff, is still causing headaches for the Prime Minister.
This time, it’s over the loss of his work phone, and along with it messages and other details relating to the appointment of Peter Mandelson in 2025 as the UK’s ambassador to the US.
McSweeney and Mandelson were close, and it is believed the appointment was made on his recommendation.
McSweeney reported the phone stolen to police on 20 October 2025, but other than telling officers that it was “a government phone” he gave no hint that it might contain sensitive information.
London’s Metropolitan Police has said it didn’t pursue the theft at the time due to the lack of details and urgency from the report.
Mandelson’s appointment has been under investigation since documents in a release from the Epstein Files claimed he had shared confidential information with the convicted sex trafficker while working for the UK government.
It was believed McSweeney’s phone could contain essential information on the vetting process for Mandelson, and how he landed the job, long after Epstein’s criminal activity was known.
“Three different people in the Labour Party used the word convenient to me,” Aggie Chambre, LBC deputy politics editor, tells Jon Sopel.
“One minister said it was a ‘very convenient coincidence’. Another one saying ‘conveniently odd’.”
Others, she adds, said that there wasn’t much that could be done since McSweeney stepped down from his chief of staff position in early February.
How has Labour responded?
The Labour Party response to the situation has been poor, with housing secretary Steve Reed saying McSweeney had reported the theft of his phone “months” before investigations into Peter Mandelson began.
But this is now known to be false.
“It was three or four weeks after Mandelson had been fired as the UK ambassador, and questions were swirling,” Jon says.
“There was headline after headline about Jeffrey Epstein, about the relationship the two had.
“It was very much in the news agenda at the time.”
Health secretary Wes Streeting has attempted to defend McSweeney, giving various outlets the same pre-prepared excuse that it seemed to be “more cock-up than conspiracy”.
A ‘corrosive sense of cynicism’
Jon says he is “keeping an open mind” on the situation, but has some nagging doubts about the situation, and that despite sounding “frazzled” in his call to the police, made little effort to explain the seriousness of the theft.
In an unusual move, London’s Metropolitan Police have released a full transcript of his conversation on the night of the alleged theft.
“You're Morgan McSweeney. You're the chief of staff to the Prime Minister,” he says.
“You would want the police to know that this is serious.”
He says the story adds to the “corrosive sense of cynicism” many people have of the Labour government as it currently stands.
“Part of the reason that this has been so damaging for him is that Labour in opposition made such a song and dance about everything the Tories did,” Jon says.
“Keir Starmer has used up an awful lot of good will over the course of the past year, and from when he became prime minister.”