The department for cover-ups and government secrecy is living up to its usual agenda by demanding massive redactions of the Mandelson data dump, due from the government after a successful Humble Address motion by the Tories. Insiders at 70 Whitehall say the redaction button is in overdrive…
There are “hundreds of thousands” of items of data in scope of the motion, including WhatsApp and text messages between Mandelson and Cabinet ministers, which a special team including government lawyers from Government Legal Department are now working through. Guido understands this includes messages with Starmer. Wes Streeting got ahead of the issue yesterday with a carefully selected set of self-published data – the Cabinet Office is telling other ministers and special advisers not to follow suit. Should those messages reveal further embarrassments for the government (which is “inevitable”), Starmer’s position will once again wobble…
The Cabinet Office and FCDO (Mandelson’s line management department as an Ambassador, he was an officer of the Diplomatic Service despite being a political appointee) are deploying “national security and diplomatic redactions” to the material – for an Ambassador, basically any communication could be said to be relevant to “relations between the UK and other countries“. Parliament is in no mood to tolerate extensive redactions however. The greatest fear in Whitehall is that the messages will further expose Mandelson’s commercial interests and friends…
Speaking about Morgan McSweeney’s resignation, skills minister Jacqui Smith told Times Radio:
“It’s clearly not ideal but I do understand why Morgan, as he explained, decided to resign at this point. But the important thing as you say is how we both tackle what this Epstein and Mandelson scandal has identified and also how we make sure, as the prime minister is absolutely determined to, that we continue the change that the country needs and that’s what I’m focusing on this morning.”