The UK government published more than 1,000 pages of documents on Sunday relating to Lord Mandelson’s appointment as the UK’s ambassador to the United States, exposing internal criticism of Prime Minister Keir Starmer and the Downing Street operation. The correspondence, released following a parliamentary compulsion, captures the ambassador-elect’s private assessments of government strategy during a turbulent period for the administration.
On May 2, 2025, Mandelson wrote to then-Cabinet Office minister Pat McFadden with a blunt evaluation of the government’s senior ranks. “Keir lacks verve as does the Cabinet as a whole,” Mandelson said. The exchange marked the beginning of a pattern of candid messaging between the two officials as they discussed the direction of the prime minister’s government.
Messages from July 2025 show Mandelson offering further critiques of the prime minister’s team. He told McFadden that No 10 advisers “don’t work as a team, they are not led and none of them really know what Keir thinks or wants.” Mandelson added that most advisers believed the prime minister himself was unclear about his objectives.
Mandelson described what he saw as a recurring pattern of hesitation in Starmer’s policy shifts. He pointed to reversals on immigration rhetoric, welfare proposals, and positions on Gaza, writing that there was a “‘let Keir be Keir’ trend.” Mandelson characterized this cycle as “advance/buckle/advance/buckle,” noting that then-No 10 chief of staff Morgan McSweeney also recognized the pattern.
Assessing the broader operational environment of the prime minister’s office, Mandelson wrote that No 10 was “beleaguered and bereft” following a visit with officials. He stated that the operation required a “complete revamp and infusion of purpose and confidence to get anywhere.”
The disclosed documents also contain exchanges between Mandelson and McFadden regarding domestic policy discussions. McFadden wrote to Mandelson about the focus on taxation to fund social programs, stating, “Every meeting I have is ‘who can we tax in order to pay benefits to others.’ They’re asking the wrong questions.” Associates of McFadden noted the message was sent before he assumed his current role overseeing the UK’s benefits system.
McFadden’s office confirmed full compliance with the parliamentary request for records. A spokesperson said McFadden had “fully complied with the Humble Address” and noted that his recent contact with Mandelson has been limited to urging him to “think about the victims in all this and apologise to them.”
The papers also detail the logistical hurdles of preparing for Mandelson’s diplomatic posting, including discussions about commissioning an official “red box” gift for US President Donald Trump. Mandelson told McSweeney the process had become convoluted, describing the situation as “like something out of the Thick of It.” Sir Olly Robbins, then a senior official at the Foreign Office, had proposed creating a custom dispatch box carrying the presidential inscription.
In a separate policy exchange, Business Secretary Peter Kyle accepted Mandelson’s input regarding a February 2025 address. Mandelson suggested the speech would “benefit from more positive language about AI up front before you get into the security stuff.” Kyle replied it was “all v good advice which I’ll action.” Six days later, at the Munich Security Conference, Kyle told delegates that the UK rejects “the doomsayers and the pessimists” about artificial intelligence.
The documents further cover Mandelson’s political maneuvering in 2024, prior to his diplomatic appointment, when he lobbied several Labour ministers—including Ed Miliband, Emma Reynolds, and Torsten Bell—to support his bid to become chancellor of the University of Oxford. Mandelson lost the largely ceremonial academic role to former Conservative Party leader William Hague.