𝓤𝓷𝓲𝓽𝓮𝓭 𝓝𝓮𝔀𝓼

Downing Street has reportedly been caught timing the release of the Mandelson files to land after Prime Minister’s Questions — a scheduling decision that opposition MPs say is designed to shield Sir Keir Starmer from the most uncomfortable questions of his premiership.

The first batch of documents will go online on Wednesday afternoon, by which point PMQs will be over and the weekly Downing Street media briefing — where reporters could have pressed officials on the contents — will have concluded. Darren Jones, one of Starmer’s most trusted allies and Chief Secretary to the Treasury, will make a statement to MPs after PMQs timed to coincide with the publication, ensuring the Prime Minister himself is also out of the firing line, the Express understands.

The documents landing this week allegedly cover the ground most damaging to Starmer personally — the vetting and due diligence process conducted before Lord Mandelson was handed the Washington ambassadorship in 2024. Buried within them is correspondence between Cabinet Office, Downing Street and Foreign Office officials that touches on Mandelson’s friendship with Jeffrey Epstein, state reports.

Shadow Cabinet Office minister Alex Burghart said the timing was no accident. “It’s no wonder the Prime Minister wants to dodge questions. His fingers are all over this,” he said. “He’s already admitted that he knew about Mandelson’s ongoing relationship with Epstein when he appointed him. Time and again his judgment has been found wanting.”

What is being released — and why

The Government did not volunteer these documents, reports the Telegraph. It was dragged to the publication table by a Conservative-led humble address motion that obliged ministers to hand over reams of material — correspondence between Mandelson, ministers and officials, vetting files, No 10 meeting minutes, assessments of his business interests and details of any payments made after his dismissal last year.

A weeks-long redaction exercise, conducted with oversight from an independent panel of MPs and peers, preceded Wednesday’s release, states the report.

WhatsApp and text messages between Mandelson and ministers are also in the pipeline, though stripped of anything deemed sensitive to national security or international relations. Meanwhile officials are working through thousands of emails from his years in public office to support the Metropolitan Police investigation.

The charges he faces

Lord Mandelson was arrested on February 23 on suspicion of misconduct in a public office. The trigger was the emergence of emails exchanged with Epstein that appeared to show him passing confidential government material to the paedophile financier during his time as business secretary under Gordon Brown.

The messages suggested he fed Epstein privileged insight into economic assessments and future policy thinking — the kind of advance intelligence that would have been highly valuable to anyone with money in the markets.

Mandelson has said sorry to Epstein’s victims for sustaining the friendship but contests every specific allegation against him, including the misconduct charge. No 10 has committed to legislation that would remove his peerage and tighten the rules around stripping disgraced peers of their titles going forward.

Downing Street was approached for comment by the Express.