Cabinet minister Darren Jones reportedly told Lord Peter Mandelson he was “so sorry” on the day he was sacked as ambassador to the US in a message that was not released as part of a tranche of documents this week.
It comes as questions have been raised about how the use of disappearing messages in WhatsApp has led to some exchanges being absent from the more than 1,000 pages of so-called Mandelson files on Monday.
Chief Secretary to the Prime Minister Mr Jones told the Commons this week that he was among those who did not have access to all messages either due to having used disappearing messages or because they had not been backed up when switching devices.
In a message to Lord Mandelson published by The Spectator, Mr Jones is said to have written: “You’ve been doing such a great job, and you worked wonders with Trump. I’m so sorry about today.”
He also appeared to criticise Chancellor Rachel Reeves, Jonathan Reynolds and Angela Rayner, who were all Cabinet colleagues at the time, in another message after Lord Mandelson said growth plans were in their hands.
“It doesn’t fill you with confidence,” he reportedly replied.
Minister Lucy Rigby dismissed the remarks as “letting off steam” as she spoke to broadcasters on Thursday morning.
The Chief Secretary to the Treasury told Times Radio: “There is an extent to which, and I think we all do need to bear this in mind, frankly, who hasn’t come out of a work meeting at some point and sent a message to a colleague or a family member or whatever, sort of, you know, letting off steam, letting off a bit of frustration.
“You know, you may well choose to exaggerate, or whatever, for effect. You know, we’ve all done that, frankly. I don’t think it’s necessarily right to over-index on some of these messages.”
Asked about the message to Lord Mandelson on the day he was sacked, she said: “I wouldn’t have used those words.”
She told Sky News hearing the message made her feel “not great” but that Mr Jones had been “clear” about how he feels about the Lord Mandelson scandal.
Sir Keir Starmer would not be directly drawn into responding to the reports about his close Cabinet ally Mr Jones’s messages with the peer.
Asked by broadcasters about the reports as he visited Yorkshire, the Prime Minister said: “We just had a big process in Parliament where many, many documents have been put before Parliament, probably the biggest exercise of transparency ever by any Government.
“That is open now. The material is there for everybody to see.”
Pressed on why Mr Jones’s messages were not included in the Mandelson files, Sir Keir would not answer directly.
He replied: “Well, we went through a process, it was a transparency process, and the point of that really was to put everything before Parliament, and people can then see the material and make their minds up.”
Th Prime Minister and Ms Reeves are among those in Government who have confirmed they use disappearing messages on WhatsApp.
But they have insisted all ministers complied with the humble address mechanism that MPs used to force the release of documents relating to Lord Mandelson’s appointment and posting as US ambassador.
The Mandelson files have been redacted in a number of ways, including where the International and Security Committee (ISC) agreed the information would be prejudicial to national security or international relations.
