Downing Street has confirmed that Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer uses an auto-delete function on his phone, an admission that means his WhatsApp messages with and about Lord Peter Mandelson, the UK’s ambassador to the US, may have been permanently lost. The disclosure came on Monday as a large tranche of documents and communications related to Mandelson’s appointment was published by the government, containing only a handful of texts from the prime minister himself.
The document release follows months of controversy over the appointment of Mandelson, a Labour peer and party grandee, as the UK’s ambassador to Washington. Parliament voted earlier this year to compel the government to disclose all materials related to the appointment. MSI previously reported that the UK government published the second tranche of these files on May 31, revealing a series of internal criticisms of Starmer and his No 10 operation.
Speaking to broadcasters, Starmer said he had handed over all the “messages I hold” and had “complied” with the process. “Many people, not just in politics, use disappearing messages,” he added.
The disappearing message tool allows WhatsApp users to set a time limit of 24 hours, seven days, or 90 days, after which their texts are automatically deleted. Government guidance for ministers states that disappearing messages are permitted as long as they do not affect record keeping or transparency. However, a review is now under way into the use of WhatsApp, and the prime minister’s official spokesman acknowledged there were “lessons to be learnt.”
The spokesman noted that the released papers did contain “multiple” documents from the prime minister’s private office, which he described as “the standard and established route for communicating prime ministerial decisions and handling communications.”
The Conservative Party seized on the development. Shadow minister Alex Burghart said: “Government guidance is clear: significant information and decisions must be properly recorded and preserved. But Keir Starmer’s messages to Peter Mandelson have been disappeared or destroyed.”
Cross-party concern extended beyond the Conservatives. Lord Beamish, the Labour peer who chairs the Intelligence and Security Committee, called on senior officials and ministers to stop using WhatsApp to conduct government business. “These are all issues that the last committee raised with both the Johnson and Sunak Governments. That culture is continuing; it cannot be allowed to continue,” he said, citing both security concerns and the lack of an audit trail for decision-making.
Other senior cabinet ministers, including Deputy Prime Minister David Lammy and Chancellor Rachel Reeves, also use disappearing messages, Downing Street confirmed.
The Mandelson files released Monday contained six texts between Mandelson and Starmer that do not appear to have been sent via WhatsApp. In one exchange from July 2024, shortly after the general election, Mandelson wrote to Starmer suggesting he meet with former Prime Minister Sir John Major, describing Major as “interesting and thoughtful.” Starmer replied a week later, agreeing to “reach out to John M,” calling him “a very thoughtful man.”
The documents also revealed messages between Mandelson and Work and Pensions Secretary Pat McFadden. In one, McFadden expressed frustration that meetings with Labour MPs were dominated by discussions of “who can we tax in order to pay benefits.” In an interview with the BBC, McFadden said his position was consistent with his calls both in “private and public” to shift the welfare system’s focus from entitlement to how to “help you change your life.”
In another message, Mandelson told McFadden he thought No 10 was “beleaguered and bereft.” Asked if he agreed, McFadden said: “I think prime ministers can often be beleaguered because it’s a really tough job,” adding that “Keir Starmer is doing a good job for the country” and “I want him to carry on doing that job.”