Peter Mandelson exchanged WhatsApp messages with a senior cabinet minister criticising Keir Starmer’s leadership style, according to newly published documents. The files, released in connection with his appointment as US ambassador, run to three volumes and more than 1,000 pages.
In the exchanges, Mandelson reportedly described the Prime Minister as lacking “verve” and prone to buckling under pressure, suggesting he should adopt a more “Trumpian” approach. The documents also show Mandelson questioning the government’s handling of energy policy and trade negotiations.
Work and Pensions Secretary Pat McFadden, the minister involved, faced criticism from Conservative leader Kemi Badenoch after his private remarks emerged. Badenoch said McFadden had “said in private what he and the prime minister deny in public”, adding that Labour MPs “don’t understand where money comes from”.
The files also reveal that McFadden agreed with a controversial intervention by Tony Blair last year, in which the former prime minister described Labour’s net zero plans as “doomed to fail”. In a message to Mandelson, McFadden called Blair’s comments “spot on” but said the timing was wrong.
Mandelson was unimpressed by Energy Secretary Ed Miliband’s response to Blair, telling McFadden: “Ed M couldn’t resist yesterday. So personal and stupid.” Mandelson also warned that the government had not grasped the importance of energy supply for economic growth, particularly for “AI and manufacturing success”.
Separately, the Department for Business and Trade was cut out of conversations about a US trade deal in May 2025 over leak concerns. Mandelson criticised the department as “irresponsible” in messages to a No 10 communications official, saying the deal should not be “conditioned by pre-briefing”.
