Thousands of documents related to Lord Peter Mandelson’s appointment and activities as ambassador to the US will be published on Monday afternoon, Downing Street has said.
The Prime Minister’s official spokesman said the publication of the files, the second tranche relating to Sir Keir Starmer’s decision to give the prestigious Washington job to Lord Mandelson rather than a career diplomat, would be an “unprecedented piece of Government transparency”.
The whole of Government effort to uncover files relating to the posting is expected to include declassified documents as well as information of a party political nature, No 10 said.
Ministers are braced for further embarrassment over revelations in the files, which are reportedly set to include thousands of WhatsApp messages likely to contain the private views of senior Government figures.
Speaking on Monday ahead of the publication, the Prime Minister’s official spokesman said: “This is a task that has involved every Government department.
“The result is the largest-ever Government response to a humble address. It represents thousands of hours of work from officials across the Government to deliver an unprecedented piece of Government transparency.
“Our guiding principle throughout has been to comply as transparently and as swiftly as possible.”
He added: “For example, material of a party political nature will be included in the publication, which is contrary to usual practice and precedent, in order to demonstrate the maximum possible transparency.
“A number of documents have also been declassified to enable publication.
“In order to provide transparency to Parliament and the public alongside the documents, we will also provide a clear explanation of the steps taken in this official-led process to gather the documents and the approach to any redactions.”
No 10 indicated the release of documents was everything it planned to publish on Lord Mandelson, apart from vetting files held back at the request of the Metropolitan Police.
The Met asked the Government to withhold Lord Mandelson’s UK Security Vetting (UKSV) summary to avoid jeopardising its investigation into alleged misconduct in public office by the peer.
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