Sir Keir Starmer has insisted he has complied with requests to hand over his WhatsApp messages relating to Lord Peter Mandelson’s appointment as US ambassador, after it was revealed the Prime Minister uses disappearing messages on the communications app.
Only a limited number of text messages between the former ambassador to Washington DC and the Prime Minister were disclosed in the Mandelson files released to Parliament on Monday.
Downing Street confirmed on Tuesday that Sir Keir uses the disappearing messages function on WhatsApp, so communications with Lord Mandelson on that platform would not be preserved.
The Prime Minister defended his use of the function when speaking to broadcasters.
Sir Keir said: “Let me assure you I have complied with the humble address.
“All the messages I hold have been passed over.
“I went through the same process as everybody else.
“And many people, not just in politics, use disappearing messages.”
Some of the WhatsApp messages detailed in the files proved embarrassing for Sir Keir, whom Lord Mandelson described as “consistently going for direction B”.
The Prime Minister’s official spokesman had earlier also insisted Sir Keir had complied fully with the humble address process – the mechanism by which MPs ordered the release of the Mandelson files – even though he used the disappearing messages function.
Use of the function is permitted “as long as use of them does not impact record-keeping or transparency”, the spokesman said.
Elsewhere, Foreign Secretary Yvette Cooper said Lord Peter Mandelson should “never have been appointed” as ambassador to the US.
She described the disclosure of messages over Lord Mandelson’s appointment as an “unedifying process”, a day after the Government released a second tranche of more than 1,000 pages of documents.
Ms Cooper was asked about the disgraced peer’s portrayal of the Prime Minister’s working cycle as “advance/buckle/advance/buckle” during a trip to Beijing.
She told reporters: “What I would say is that Peter Mandelson should never have been appointed as ambassador to the United States, and look, of course there’s been a lot of transparency now about messages being released.
“That’s always an unedifying process but right to be transparent. We mustn’t forget two things, first is that in the end this whole thing started about Epstein’s abuse of young women and girls, and sometimes the conversation gets pulled away from that.
“Secondly, I think the whole Government is getting on with the most important issues that affect our country, and that’s exactly why I’m here in China having these important discussions about international security.”
Asked whether she could describe the Prime Minister as a strong and effective leader following the disclosure, the Foreign Secretary said: “I’m in China pursuing issues around international security which follows on from the Prime Minister’s visit here to China with President Xi earlier this year.”
Asked whether she had full confidence in Sir Keir and whether he was the right person to lead Labour into the next general election, Ms Cooper told the Press Association: “As Foreign Secretary I’ve seen the respect that Keir Starmer is held in across the world, and also the respect the UK is held in across the world because of his leadership, so, of course.
“And it’s important that we’re continuing all of that – the reason I’m here in China is exactly because we’ve got to continue that work that he did as part of his first visit.
“Look, I said at the time of the local elections, we have to have a debate across our party, but that is a debate for all of us, and that is a collective responsibility for all of us.”
Sir Keir, along with Ms Cooper, sacked Lord Mandelson in September 2025 after leaked emails which showed the peer sent supportive messages even as late paedophile financier Jeffrey Epstein faced jail for sex offences.
MPs voted earlier this year to force the disclosure of documents relating to his time as ambassador.
The Prime Minister chaired a meeting of his Cabinet on Tuesday morning after the latest document dump laid bare splits within Labour.
Monday’s release included records of WhatsApp exchanges between Lord Mandelson and Cabinet minister Pat McFadden that revealed the latter’s frustration with his colleagues.
Lord Mandelson was highly critical of Sir Keir’s operation in messages, saying the Prime Minister “lacks verve” and that Chancellor Rachel Reeves could not explain where economic growth would come from.
MPs will have the opportunity to debate the second tranche of files on Wednesday.