Prime Minister Keir Starmer has rejected as “far-fetched” suggestions that the theft of his former chief of staff Morgan McSweeney’s mobile phone was linked to a subsequent push for the release of documents concerning Peter Mandelson’s appointment as US ambassador. Speaking on Thursday, Starmer said the phone was stolen, reported to the police, and that a transcript of the 999 call confirms the details.
Conservative leader Kemi Badenoch’s spokesperson said she had “raised an eyebrow” over the account of the theft, while Labour MP Karl Turner publicly doubted the phone was stolen. Shadow business secretary Andrew Griffith described the situation as “as smelly as a fish market on a hot summer’s afternoon,” citing his own experience of paranoia around government devices at No 10.
The Metropolitan Police released a transcript of McSweeney’s 999 call, in which he reported that his government-issued iPhone was snatched by a young man on a bike in Pimlico, central London, on 20 October last year. McSweeney used his personal phone to call 999 and told the handler he had contacted his office to track the device. He did not specify his job, and the call handler did not appear to recognise his name.
Helen MacNamara, a former deputy cabinet secretary, said McSweeney took the right steps by calling the government to wipe the phone, but expressed surprise that Downing Street did not contact police to highlight the phone’s significance. She added that the government’s reluctance to release Mandelson-related documents more swiftly had fuelled speculation about what was being hidden.
Starmer also acknowledged he “beats himself up” over the decision to appoint Mandelson as US ambassador in 2024, after documents revealed he had been warned of a “general reputational risk” over Mandelson’s links to convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein. The prime minister told Sky News’s Electoral Dysfunction podcast: “Nobody has been harder on me in relation to the mistake.”
