Lord Mandelson's Communications Reveal Internal Labour Criticisms

The government has published more than 1,000 pages of documents relating to Lord Mandelson's appointment as the UK's ambassador to the US.

The papers include messages between Lord Mandelson and ministers, exchanging advice and news - as well as criticism of the No 10 operation, Labour MPs and the prime minister himself.

Criticism of No 10 and Keir Starmer

On 2 May 2025, Lord Mandelson wrote to Pat McFadden (then a Cabinet Office minister, now the work and pensions secretary) saying: "Keir lacks verve as does the Cabinet as a whole."

Then in July that year, messages between the two appear to show Lord Mandelson criticising advisers in No 10, saying they are good but "they don't work as a team, they are not led and none of them really know what Keir thinks or wants.

"In fact most of them don't think Keir knows what he wants."

Later that month, in a further message to McFadden, Lord Mandelson says: "I have a feeling that Keir is now consistently going for direction B. His recanting on his immigration speech, on welfare, now Gaza.

"There is definitely a 'let Keir be Keir' trend. This is what Morgan [McSweeney] senses and so it is particularly acute for him. His view from when Keir first stood is that the cycle has been the same, advance/buckle/advance/buckle."

Lord Mandelson later adds: "I went in to No 10 after I saw you. It is beleaguered and bereft. It requires complete revamp and infusion of purpose and confidence to get anywhere."

MPs' concerns

In the exchanges, McFadden also describes conversations he had with other Labour politicians about the welfare system and public spending in a pretty blunt way.

"Every meeting I have is 'who can we tax in order to pay benefits to others'," he wrote to Lord Mandelson. "They're asking the wrong questions".

Allies of McFadden point out that message was sent before he was in charge of the UK's benefits regime. He was running the Cabinet Office at the time.

A spokesperson for the work and pensions secretary said: "Pat has fully complied with the Humble Address and handed over all messages.

"His only contact with Peter Mandelson since he left government has been to urge him to think about the victims in all this and apologise to them."

'Never regret' assurances

Lord Mandelson wrote a handwritten note to then-foreign secretary David Lammy saying the government would "never regret" making him US ambassador.

The letter was dated 18 November 2024, with Lord Mandelson writing: "I just wanted you to know that if you were minded to appoint me I would make sure you never regret it."

He said navigating Britain's interests through the Trump administration will "require super-human skills and luck and a massive team effort".

Lord Mandelson added the role would be the "last thing I do in public life" and a "huge honour", adding: "So if you are up for it, so am I."

Lord Mandelson was announced as the UK's ambassador to the US the following month on 20 December 2024.

Lammy is currently serving as deputy prime minister and justice secretary.

Red Box for Trump?

Lord Mandelson and senior officials discussed commissioning an official government "red box" to give as a gift to US President Donald Trump.

Amid complications in organising this, the former US ambassador told No 10 chief of staff Morgan McSweeney he'd "gone tonto" and that the "saga" was "like something out of [TV comedy show the] Thick of It".

Sir Olly Robbins, then the top official at the foreign office, said "one of the gifts that would mean the most to the President would be a red dispatch box with the gold crest and lettering mimicking a UK Government Ministerial box but with 'President of the United States' inscribed upon it."

AI advice

Business Secretary Peter Kyle said he would "action" advice from Lord Mandelson to include "more positive language about AI" at the start of a speech at a major international security conference.

On 8 February 2025, Lord Mandelson told Kyle, who was then the government's technology secretary, that his speech would "benefit from more positive language about AI up front before you get into the security stuff".

Kyle replied: " That's all v good advice which I'll action. Thank you."

Six days later Kyle gave a speech at the Munich Security Conference in which he said "in the UK, we reject the doomsayers and the pessimists" about artificial intelligence.

VAT warning

Lord Mandelson was critical of the government getting rid of VAT exemptions for private schools in a text exchange with House of Lords Leader Baroness Smith of Basildon.

In August 2024, Baroness Smith wrote there was "grumpiness on our side from more on our side than I'd like on getting rid of the VAT exemption in private schools" and also on another proposal for a retirement age for peers.

Responding, Lord Mandelson said: "I am afraid I think the VAT policy was probably unwise."

Policy not done 'well enough'

Concerns were raised by Lord Mandelson about the Labour government's handling of policy in a WhatsApp message exchange with Pensions Minister Torsten Bell in July 2025.

Bell refers to the "big picture" of government as "messy", with Lord Mandelson saying: "It's messy because the government doesn't do policy, generally speaking, well enough. It all starts with policy."

Bell seeks clarity on which government the then-ambassador is referring to, with Lord Mandelson replying: "Our government!"

Bell then writes: "Well that is definitely true - everyone seems to think it's someone else's job to get the policy right... which is very odd."

Lobbying for chancellorship

Lord Mandelson was beaten to the largely ceremonial role by William Hague, the former leader of the Conservative Party.