The latest release of the Peter Mandelson files, published June 1-2, contains an email exchange in which a request was made by the US delegation for a replica ministerial red box as a gift for then-President-elect Donald Trump during his state visit to the United Kingdom. Guardian columnist Marina Hyde reported on June 2 that the manufacturer quoted a lead time of eight to ten weeks to produce the handcrafted briefcase — a detail she described as “staggeringly shocking” and emblematic of Britain’s inability to accelerate routine tasks.
“The manufacturer gave a lead time of 8-10 weeks,” the email from the files states, according to Hyde. Writing in her Guardian column, Hyde contrasted the UK’s procurement pace with what she said would be expected in China, India, or the United States, where “it would take even eight to 10 days.” She noted that while the boxes are individually handcrafted, the special nature of the request — a diplomatic gift for a visiting head of state — should have warranted expedited production.
The red-box anecdote is one of two passages Hyde identified as revealing broader governmental dysfunction. The other is a comment from Cabinet Office minister Pat McFadden, captured in a separate email contained in the files. “Every meeting I have is: ‘Who can we tax in order to pay benefits to others?’” McFadden wrote, a remark Hyde characterized as a damning indictment of Labour’s internal focus on redistribution over wealth creation.
Hyde argued that the correspondence as a whole underscores a leadership vacuum at 10 Downing Street. She wrote that Keir Starmer is “the e of this government” — a reference to Perec’s novel written entirely without the letter “e” — and that his presence is so faint in the documents that it is “hard to imagine Starmer has ever even been meaningfully present.” She noted that Starmer declared kickstarting economic growth his government’s number one priority, yet the files suggest no substantial preparatory work was done in opposition to achieve that goal.
The column extended the critique to the government’s broader record on growth. Hyde wrote that nearly two years into the administration it is “impossible to think of a single thing the government has done that has had the effect of increasing growth” and “regrettably possible to think of a number of things it has done that have hampered or depressed growth.” She listed housing, infrastructure, planning reform, public and private investment in innovation, and a coherent industrial strategy as areas where the government has lacked delivery.
The latest files release is the second tranche of documents related to Mandelson’s appointment as UK ambassador to the United States. The first tranche was published in March and prompted substantial political fallout. The continuing release of internal communications has become a recurring story in British politics, with opposition parties seizing on the correspondence to question the government’s competence and judgment.