Lord Peter Mandelson declared that the Government would 'never regret' appointing him as Britain's ambassador to the United States, according to a note published alongside thousands of documents relating to the posting. The second batch of documents concerning Sir Keir Starmer's decision to award the prestigious Washington role to Lord Mandelson, rather than a career diplomat, was released by the Government on Monday afternoon.
The documents also revealed that Lord Mandelson apparently 'declined to comply' with a request to surrender his personal mobile phone and permit the Government to publish WhatsApp messages and other information connected to his appointment. Prior to their release, the Prime Minister's official spokesman described the sweeping, government-wide effort to publish the documents as an 'unprecedented piece of Government transparency'.
The note, dated November 18 2024, appears to have been drafted while Lord Mandelson was awaiting the outcome of a vote to determine Oxford University's next chancellor. The letter stated: 'Dear David, As today (and all week) is polling day in Oxford and I am returning to London, I wanted to drop you a line, personally, about Washington. Thankfully, the media speculation has gone away and I hope this was not too irritating to you. I just wanted you to know that if you were minded to appoint me I would make sure you never regret it.'
Steering Britain's interests 'through the Trump administration will require super-human skills and luck and a massive team effort', he wrote, continuing: 'For me it would be the last thing I do in public life and it would be a huge honour to serve you and the Government in this role. So if you are up for it, so am I.'
The disclosure revealed Lord Mandelson had exchanged WhatsApp messages with several government ministers. On 20 July 2025, he informed pensions minister Torsten Bell that 'the government doesn't do policy, generally speaking, well enough'. Mr Bell responded: 'That is definitely true – everyone seems to think it's someone else's job to get the policy right... Which is very odd.' Lord Mandelson replied: 'As the saying goes, rubbish in rubbish out...'
In other exchanges, he described former transport secretary Louise Haigh's departure from government as 'harsh' following her resignation over a fraud offence. The three sets of documents, spanning 1,504 pages in total, encompass topics from negotiations over a US trade agreement to Lord Mandelson's repeated attempts to secure backing from senior Labour MPs for the Oxford University position.
