Ministers have been accused of a cover-up after admitting they withheld information about Peter Mandelson’s appointment as Washington ambassador from a parliamentary committee. Darren Jones, the prime minister’s chief secretary, told MPs on Tuesday that the government had not disclosed certain material to the Intelligence and Security Committee (ISC).
Neil O’Brien, a shadow Cabinet Office minister, said the government had applied redactions beyond the scope agreed by the House and withheld documents entirely, calling it “an extremely serious matter” and “yet another cover-up”. Labour MP Kim Johnson expressed concern that No 10 was “continuing to cover up Mandelson’s dodgy dealings”.
The row stems from Starmer’s decision to appoint Mandelson, who was sacked after it emerged he had a closer relationship with paedophile Jeffrey Epstein than previously known. The controversy has already cost Starmer’s chief of staff Morgan McSweeney and Foreign Office civil servant Olly Robbins their jobs.
Jones defended the redactions, saying there was no public interest in publishing names and contact details of junior officials or raw data from vetting investigations. He said the next tranche of documents, running to thousands of pages, would not be published until June, refusing to confirm whether this would be before the Makerfield byelection.
ISC chair Kevan Jones insisted the committee’s concerns were about due process, not a cover-up, while Conservative member Jeremy Wright said he had “considerable sympathy” for the redactions but stressed the government could not unilaterally alter the terms of the humble address.
