Tories seek to maintain pressure on Starmer over Mandelson files

The Conservatives suggested the “missing” files could include Sir Keir’s own comments on an official note sent to him which covered the Cabinet Office’s due diligence, referring to a “general reputational risk” from Lord Mandelson’s relationship with paedophile financier Jeffrey Epstein.

Senior Tory Alex Burghart said: “There appears to be a significant number of relevant pieces that one would expect to be in existence and that have not been provided.”

Some documents have been withheld because of the ongoing Metropolitan Police investigation into alleged misconduct in public office by Lord Mandelson.

Other documents the Tories suggested could have been released may simply not exist.

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Mr Burghart, the shadow chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster, listed 56 separate files or pieces of information which he believed could be released.

In a letter to Chief Secretary to the Prime Minister Darren Jones, Mr Burghart said: “Where the Government has withheld documents at the request of the Metropolitan Police in connection with an ongoing criminal investigation, that is acknowledged and understood.

“But the omissions identified above do not fall within that category. They are documents relevant to the Prime Minister’s decision-making that the House specifically requested and that the Government has chosen not to provide, or has provided in a form that renders them uninformative.”

One Government source dismissed Mr Burghart’s letter as “total nonsense”, claiming the Tories “know stuff is either with police or doesn’t exist”.

The release of the documents was ordered by MPs and Mr Burghart warned that failing to fully comply risked being a contempt of Parliament and a breach of the ministerial code.

He claimed that “no evidence” had been disclosed showing “the formal recorded decisions by which identified risks were judged acceptable, mitigated, or overridden before the machinery of appointment proceeded”.

The documents that were released showed national security adviser (NSA) Jonathan Powell believed the process for giving Lord Mandelson the job was “weirdly rushed” and “raised concerns” about it.

Sir Philip Barton, the then-Foreign Office permanent under-secretary, “also had reservations around the appointment”, the papers showed.

Mr Burghart questioned whether there were any undisclosed records of their concerns being communicated to Sir Keir.

A Government spokeswoman said: “The Government is committed to complying with the Humble Address in full, while continuing to support the Metropolitan Police in their investigation.”

The Tories had previously asked Sir Keir’s independent ethics adviser Sir Laurie Magnus to investigate whether the ministerial code has been breached over the handling of the Mandelson case.

Sir Laurie, the independent adviser on ministerial standards, said there were no grounds for an investigation.

“I consider that the documentation that has been made public indicates that the relevant process for a political appointee was followed,” he said.

Lord Mandelson was arrested on February 23 on suspicion of misconduct in public office, having been accused of passing sensitive information to Epstein during his time as business secretary in Gordon Brown’s government.

He was subsequently bailed, but later released from his bail conditions, although he remains under investigation.