Skip to content

Far-fetched to think McSweeney faked phone theft, says PM

Jennifer McKiernanPolitical reporter
News imageGetty Images and PA Side by side shots of Former Downing Street chief of staff Morgan McSweeney (left) and former US ambassador Lord Mandelson. McSweeney is walking down Downing Street in a dark grey coat, a white shirt and a dark tie. Lord Mandelson is pictured walking down a street holding a dark jacket and wearing a white shirt with a pink tie and spectacles.Getty Images and PA
Former Downing Street chief of staff Morgan McSweeney (left) and former US ambassador Lord Mandelson

The prime minister has said it is "a little bit far-fetched" to believe his former chief-of-staff Morgan McSweeney could have faked the theft of his phone.

Messages relating to Lord Mandelson's appointment as British ambassador to the US could be lost as a result of the theft in October last year.

The phone would have been included in the imminent disclosure of all messages connected to that decision, which McSweeney pushed for despite concerns about Lord Mandelson's links to paedophile Jeffrey Epstein.

Conservative leader Kemi Badenoch told journalists "we are all raising eyebrows" at the phone being stolen and, pressed for any evidence, responded it "doesn't add up".

The BBC has approached McSweeney for comment.

On Wednesday, the Met took the unusual step of publishing the full transcript of the call McSweeney made on 20 October last year to report his work phone had been snatched from his hand by a young man riding a bike as he walked down the street.

Speaking to journalists in Finland, where he is attending a security summit, Sir Keir Starmer dismissed speculation McSweeney's account could be untrue and the government was involved in a cover-up was wrong.

Asked if he understood why some people were suspicious about the incident, the prime minister said: "Unfortunately there are thefts like this.

"It was stolen. It was reported at the time, the police have acknowledged and confirmed that. That is what happened.

"The idea that somehow everybody could have seen that some time in the future there'd be a request for the phone is, to my mind, a little bit far-fetched."

At PMQs on Wednesday, Badenoch said: "I wonder what a director of public prosecutions would make of the defence, 'sorry, I can't produce my WhatsApps, my phone's been stolen'."

Sir Keir was the director of public prosecutions before he started his political career.

Speaking after PMQs, Badenoch's official spokesman continued to contest McSweeney's reported theft.

"From the very outset of the Mandelson affair, the prime minister's first instinct has been to obfuscate and cover up," he told reporters.

The spokesman would not go as far as to suggest McSweeney was lying about his phone being stolen, but said: "I think what Kemi would say is, it's very fortunate timing."

Badenoch has called for McSweeney to give evidence to Parliament about the theft, saying there were "too many unanswered questions".

She said: "If No 10 are incapable of recovering these messages, it is only right that Morgan McSweeney testifies in Parliament and explains exactly what happened and why Keir Starmer signed off on Peter Mandelson's appointment despite the warnings."

Later that evening, Labour backbencher Karl Turner posted on X: "I don't believe McSwindle had his iPhone stolen." He has offered no evidence for this claim.

Another Labour backbencher, Richard Burgon, has submitted a written question to the Cabinet Office on whether McSweeney reported the theft to them, what the guidance is on backing up data and what impact the theft had on national security.

Burgon said on X: "Given the serious impact this could have on getting the truth about the Mandelson scandal... we need answers."

The government has promised to comply with a demand from MPs to publish all messages relating to the appointment of Lord Mandelson as US ambassador, who was appointed despite his friendship with convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein.

The first set of internal government documents, which reveal the PM was warned about the risk of appointing Lord Mandelson, were released earlier this month.

Messages from ministers and government aides are expected to be included in the second release, raising questions about whether information held on McSweeney's stolen phone would be accessible.

The Cabinet Office is understood to have some of the messages between Mr McSweeney and Lord Mandelson in its possession.

Former deputy cabinet secretary Helen MacNamara has criticised Downing Street for apparently not flagging McSweeney's phone theft to the police as a security risk.

She told BBC Radio 4's Today programme McSweeney "did the right thing" in quickly contacting Downing Street to report the phone stolen and asking them to wipe it.

But she said there were "questions to ask and answer about just how fast the government were" in responding to that, because it was "their phone, their data, their risk" and, in her experience, security steps like this were not fast enough.

She said: "It's surprising to me that Downing Street didn't then get in touch with the Met to flag that this was a significant thing.

"Maybe they did, maybe we'll find that out later - but it's definitely true that, in this day and age in particular, we need to be really careful about government material on phones and take all kinds of precautions, so I would hope that that's what the system did."

MacNamara also called for speedier release of the second batch of documents relating Mandelson's appointment to put an end to speculation, arguing the information vacuum is allowing "paranoia and suspicion" and "people are imaging all sorts of amazing things that he [McSweeney] can do".

"Trust in politics and government does really matter," she said. "It's better to get it out there."

Badenoch told journalists she wanted to know why McSweeney had not told police exactly who he was on the call, because an organisation behind the thief "could have been China, could have been Russia".

"The prime minister's chief of staff is someone who has access to a lot of information," she said, urging the government to "come clean about what happened".

Asked whether she thought there had been any wrongdoing, Badenoch replied: "Well, we don't know, but the story doesn't add up.

"It's very suspicious that the phone got stolen after I had asked about Peter Mandelson and he'd got sacked."

SNP Westminster deputy leader Pete Wishart has criticised the prime minister and called for a full investigation into the matter.

He said: "Either the prime minister is completely incompetent, and failed to ensure key evidence was retained, or there has been a deliberate cover-up to conceal the truth from voters.

"This Labour Party scandal is getting worse every day."

The timeline for a complex series of events is as follows:

2024

2025

2026

News imageThin, red banner promoting the Politics Essential newsletter with text saying, “Get the latest political analysis and big moments, delivered straight to your inbox every weekday”. There is also an image of the Houses of Parliament.

Sign up for our Politics Essential newsletter to read top political analysis, gain insight from across the UK and stay up to speed with the big moments. It'll be delivered straight to your inbox every weekday.