UK Minister's Phone Theft Linked to Missing Epstein Scandal Communications

LONDON — Messages between Peter Mandelson and a second high-ranking British government figure are missing from the public disclosures forced by the Jeffrey Epstein scandal because of another reported phone theft, according to documents seen by POLITICO.

Nick Thomas-Symonds, the Cabinet minister overseeing the U.K.’s “reset” in relations with the EU, held a formal meeting with Mandelson in January last year about how the then-ambassador might support the ambition from D.C., official disclosures published on Monday show.

However, the files contained no record of earlier communications that took place between the Cabinet Office minister and Mandelson, who was sacked as envoy to the U.S. over his friendship with the late convicted sex offender Epstein on Sept. 11 last year.

Just over a month later, on Oct. 15, Thomas-Symonds reported to police and government officials that his personal phone had been snatched late at night.

The minister told officers he was walking past the Home Office when three people on bikes targeted him. Scotland Yard confirmed the theft, on Marsham Street, in Westminster, was reported to police that same night.

Five days later, on Oct. 20, Morgan McSweeney, who at the time was Prime Minister Keir Starmer’s chief adviser, reported his own phone had been snatched by a man on a bike.

Starmer was pressured by MPs across the House of Commons in February to agree to publish a vast trove of communications between Mandelson, ministers and officials in an attempt to understand what the government knew about the ambassador’s relationship with Epstein.

But officials have long been braced for embarrassing disclosures to emerge as a result of the process known as the “humble address,” whether on their true thoughts about Donald Trump, or uncomfortable conversations with Mandelson.

The timing of McSweeney reporting his phone stolen triggered some public skepticism, prompting the Met to take the unusual step of publishing a full transcript of McSweeney’s call to police. Phone snatching is a common crime in London, with official figures showing more than 71,000 were reported in the capital last year.

A second reported theft emerges

Thomas-Symonds was walking past the Home Office on the return to his flat from dinner on Oct. 15 when he reported being set upon on, according to the minister’s team.

Uninjured, the minister messaged officials in his team from his government phone just before midnight, advising them his personal device had been stolen. He told them he’d reported the incident to police and had the device blocked by his network provider, a WhatsApp exchange seen by POLITICO shows.

Aides to the MP followed procedure to disclose the theft to the Cabinet Office security team shortly after midnight, on Oct. 16, subsequent emails show.

Thomas-Symonds has told officials he can recall exchanging pleasantries with Mandelson over their respective jobs — and that Mandelson, at the time campaigning to become chancellor of Oxford University, had lobbied for his vote as an alumni of the institution, like he did other Labour graduates.

There was no back up of these messages and they couldn’t be recovered, said one of the minister’s allies, granted anonymity because of the sensitive nature of the disclosures.

“Nick complied fully with the humble address, sharing all details of the messages he could recall, which were all prior to Mandelson taking up post,” the ally added. “It is right that transparency is the only remedy.”