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Cabinet Office minister Nick Thomas-Symonds has said messages revealed in yesterday's Mandelson files are "embarrassing", but the revelations show how determined the government is to comply with the humble address demanding their release.

Hundreds of pages of texts and emails between Lord Mandelson and key government figures about his time as US ambassador were released yesterday.

The peer, who was sacked from the post after details emerged about the depth of his relationship with paedophile Jeffrey Epstein, did not hand over his personal phone for the release.

Among the messages was an admission from now Work and Pensions Secretary Pat McFadden that every meeting he had with Labour MPs asked "who can we tax in order to pay benefits to others."

Thomas-Symonds told Breakfast this morning "embarrassing" messages in the files show how determined the government is to comply with the humble address.

"The reason they are public is because the government is being open and transparent," he added.

We're closing our live coverage for now, but you can read political editor Chris Mason's analysis here.

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Work and Pensions Secretary Pat McFadden's messages with Lord Mandelson made headlines when the latest bunch of files were released on Monday.

In an exchange between the pair, McFadden - then in another cabinet job - said "every meeting I have is 'who can we tax in order to pay benefits to others'".

Who is Pat McFadden?

McFadden, like Mandelson, is a veteran of previous Labour administrations, serving under both Gordon Brown and Tony Blair, including in the business department with Mandelson, when the peer was business secretary.

When Keir Starmer became Labour leader in 2020, McFadden was appointed to a role in the Labour shadow Treasury team.

Dubbed by the Times as "the most influential politician you have never heard of" in 2024, McFadden was Labour's national campaign coordinator when the party won that year's general election.

He previously worked as an adviser to Blair. He was elected as the MP for Wolverhampton South East in 2005.

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The prime minister's spokesperson has said that Monday's release of files relating to the appointment of Lord Mandelson as UK ambassador to the US was "the largest ever response to a humble address" - the name for the process which triggered the release.

Here's a quick glance at how we got to this point with the documents:

• 11 September 2025: Mandelson is sacked from his ambassadorial role after a cache of emails reveals "additional information" showing his relationship with late convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein to be "materially different", according to the Foreign Office

• 4 February 2026: MPs vote in favour of releasing documents relating to Mandelson's appointment

• 11 March 2026: The first batch of files is released. They show that Starmer was warned of the reputational risks before appointing Mandelson
• 16 April 2026: Further pressure is piled on the prime minister after it emerges that Mandelson failed security vetting process. No 10 says Starmer was not aware, and he later says that if he'd known he would never have let Mandelson take up the post

• 1 June 2026: The second batch of files is released, laying bare the criticisms Mandelson and government ministers were making of Starmer, No 10 and Labour MPs

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We've also heard a short while ago from Foreign Secretary Yvette Cooper, who is visiting China.

She says that Lord Mandelson should "never have been appointed as the ambassador to the United States".

"There's been a lot of transparency now" because of the file release, Cooper says, but adds that "the whole government is getting on with the most important issues that affect our country".

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After the publication of emails and text messages that revealed behind-the-scenes bad-mouthing inside Keir Starmer's government, it was the turn of Cabinet Office minister Nick Thomas-Symonds to handle the morning's media interviews. Here's what he said.

• Lost messages with Mandelson: He said he'd been "very, very open" with officials that a phone of his - which was stolen last year - contained some messages with Mandelson, but emphasised this was his personal phone, not a government one
• On redactions in the files: None of the redactions were done "at the behest of politicians", he said, because an independent parliamentary committee ensured there was "no ministerial interference" in this process
• 'Embarrassing' revelations: Some of the messages are "embarrassing, I'm not hiding from that", Thomas-Symonds conceded, but separately said "the reason they are public is because the government is being open and transparent"
• On McFadden's 'who can we tax' observation: Thomas-Symonds defended an exchange in which McFadden bemoaned some Labour MPs pushing for higher taxes to fund welfare, stating that McFadden has always focused on giving "people ladders out of unemployment"
• Shock at 'depth' of Epstein-Mandelson link: He disputed the idea of a "boys' club" in Westminster, and said he was "absolutely shocked" when he found out about the "depth and darkness" of the relationship between Mandelson and sex offender Jeffrey Epstein

The 1,500 pages of WhatsApp messages, emails and other communications released on Monday are expected to be the last large drop of documents relating to Lord Mandelson.

But the files do not include Mandelson's vetting file, which, it is understood, the Metropolitan Police asked be held back while they investigate him on suspicion of misconduct in public office.

Minister Darren Jones told the Commons on Monday Jones it was shared with the committee for the purpose of agreeing redactions, so that it can be published "when we are in a position to do so".

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We've heard plenty from minister Nick Thomas-Synonds this morning, defending the record of Keir Starmer and his government. Let's recap some of Lord Mandelson's criticisms - as revealed in yesterday's document drop.

• In March 2025, Mandelson told Labour MP Torsten Bell the government "doesn't do policy, generally speaking, well enough"
• In May, he told Cabinet Office minister (now Work and Pensions secretary) Pat McFadden that Starmer is "not leading from the front". In reply, McFadden said of Labour MPs: "Every meeting I have is "who can we tax in order to pay benefits to others". They're asking the wrong questions"
• In July 2025, Mandelson described former Health Secretary Wes Streeting as "pathetic" and "experiencing a mid life crisis". Of staff at No 10, Mandelson said "most of them don't think Keir knows what he wants". He described Starmer as "consistently going for direction B" and that former chief of staff Morgan McSweeney thought that Starmer had an "advance/buckle/advance/buckle" cycle since he came into office
• Mandelson described No 10 as "beleaguered and bereft", requiring a "complete revamp and infusion of purpose and confidence to get anywhere"
• In August, Mandelson told McFadden that Starmer's media prep was "completely reductionist" and made to "avoid any encounter with journos that might involve him answering a question"
• Mandelson also told the most senior civil servant in the foreign office at the time, Olly Robbins, that the way foreign policy is being made was "lamentable...disjointed...disappointing"

Thomas-Symonds is now asked about Work and Pensions Secretary Pat McFadden - following his WhatsApp messages with Peter Mandelson about Labour backbenchers.

In May 2025, McFadden - then Cabinet Office minister - told Mandelson: "Every meeting I have is 'who can we tax in order to pay benefits to others'."

Thomas-Symonds says: "Look they are embarrassing, I'm not hiding from that."

But he says the reason the messages are in the public domain is to comply with the humble address, which required government transparency.

Thomas-Symonds is pressed on McFadden's comments about whether Labour backbenchers are asking the "wrong questions".

He says that it is not his experience, and that he does not accept that Labour MPs are "are not determined to tackle the scourge of youth unemployment".

Nick Thomas-Symonds is asked again about the messages with Peter Mandelson that he was unable to release in Monday's file drop because his phone was stolen.

They would have contained "congratulations" around each other's appointments to government roles, and discussion of Mandelson's campaign to be chancellor of Oxford University, Thomas-Symonds says.

Asked if these congratulatory messages with someone linked to Jeffrey Epstein suggest there was a "boys' club" within Westminster, Thomas-Symonds says he "would dispute that".

The "awful suffering" of Epstein's victims has been "very much at the forefront", says Thomas-Symonds.

He adds that he "had no idea about the depth and darkness of the relationship between Peter Mandelson and Jeffrey Epstein and I was shocked, absolutely shocked, last September when it came to light".

You can listen live at the top of the page - and we'll have key lines here.

Thomas-Symonds is now asked about Work and Pensions Secretary Pat McFadden - and how he can lead welfare reform when he has a "dysfunctional relationship" with Labour MPs.

As a reminder, McFadden complained in a 2025 message that: "Every meeting I have is 'who can we tax in order to pay benefits to others."

Thomas-Symonds says McFadden's view on welfare has always been very consistent, focusing on "how you give people opportunities, how you give people ladders out of unemployment", and that he has no doubt that he will continue to drive forward with his work.

Thomas-Symonds adds that "embarrassing" messages in the files that were released show how determined the government is to comply with the humble address.

He says that the messages are private and that were never expected to be made public.

"The reason they are public is because the government is being open and transparent," he adds.

Asked about comments made by Mandelson in the files that no-one in government knows what Sir Keir wants, Thomas-Symonds said "I don't agree with that view about the prime minister".

There was a "particular context" to remarks made in the summer of 2025, Thomas-Symonds says - the PM was looking at restructuring No 10.

He says the restructuring that came in September last year "has produced results", citing net migration being down by 80% as well as NHS waiting lists "falling very, very quickly indeed".

He continues: "The government is delivering, which was exactly the purpose of the changes the prime minister made last September."

Thomas-Symonds is now asked about another phone theft - the prime minister's ex-chief of staff, Morgan McSweeney, also had his phone stolen in central London in 2025.

Thomas-Symonds says it is "a coincidence" that he cannot comment on.

He describes the theft of his own phone as "quite shocking" and said he went through all correct processes.

It was a "horrible experience", he added, while urging that we the government have to move forward with cracking down on mobile phone theft.

"It's not pleasant at all."

Nick Thomas-Symonds is first asked about some of his own messages that haven't been released, because his phone was stolen.

"It wasn't my government phone, it was my personal phone," Thomas-Symonds says, adding that it was taken on his wife's birthday near the Home Office in central London.

He lost "not just WhatsApps" but "a lot of personal photographs", he says.

He says that he did tell the officials in charge of this file release that "there would have been messages" between Peter Mandelson and himself on there.

"I've been very, very open about that," he says.

On wider redactions, Thomas-Symonds says they have gone through an independent Parliamentary intelligence committee which has made sure there's "no ministerial interference".

He says there's "no redaction in those documents that's at the behest of politicians" and it's a process that's been done "at arms-length".

The Cabinet Office minister is speaking to BBC Breakfast now - watch live at the top of the page.

Shadow cabinet minister Alex Burghart says there is "a lot of stuff that is missing" from the files released yesterday.

He tells the Today programme that there is "acres and acres of white space" and "huge amounts of redactions" in the files.

He accepts that some of this is due to national security issues, but it is also clear there is a lot of material not published, he says.

Burghart says that either items have been deleted or have gone missing.

"The prime minister was not thinking about national security when he appointed Peter Mandelson to our most senior diplomatic post," he says.

• Lord Mandelson did not hand over his own WhatsApp messages to the government, the files show, and "the government has no further recourse to search the personal devices of Peter Mandelson". Other files have been held back due to a police investigation.

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A Labour backbench MP has criticised Pat McFadden for his "quite extreme" comments about welfare (see our previous post).

Messages show McFadden, who is now the work and pensions secretary, complain to Mandelson about Labour MPs, saying: "Every meeting I have is 'who can we tax in order to pay benefits to others'. They're asking the wrong questions."

Liverpool Riverside MP Kim Johnson told the BBC's The World Tonight programme last night: "I have to say that his comments are quite extreme on welfare, and the fact that he made those comments before being appointed the secretary of state for work and pensions I find a bit alarming...

"We know there's been a lot of criticism towards the government, particularly in terms of their welfare reforms.

"A number of groups that I've met with are very unhappy - and even more unhappy because of the comments they're now seeing from Pat McFadden - it's just totally unacceptable."

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The latest drop of the "Mandelson files" gave some insight into how Lord Mandelson and ministers view the Labour Party - from the prime minister through to its backbenches.

One person not expected to feature heavily was Work and Pensions Secretary Pat McFadden.

But in an exchange between McFadden and Mandelson, McFadden said that every meeting he had with Labour MPs asked: "Who can we tax in order to pay benefits to others."

McFadden was the senior minister in the Cabinet Office at the time.

In another exchange with McFadden, Mandelson described No 10 as "beleaguered and bereft" and said that Keir Starmer "lacks verve".

Mandelson also told pensions minister Torsten Bell that government "doesn’t do policy, generally speaking, well enough”.

The files spills some secrets about how the modern government functions by phone, email and WhatsApp. Our political editor Chris Mason has more here.

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Westminster is this morning digesting the contents of the 1,500-page document drop relating to the appointment of Lord Mandelson as UK ambassador to the US.

Following Mandelson's sacking over his links to convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein, MPs voted to release the documents in a House of Commons vote back in February.

In the documents, there are WhatsApp messages, emails and other communications in which Mandelson and ministers strongly criticise the prime minister, No 10 and Labour MPs.

There were also redactions and documents withheld - either at the request of the Metropolitan Police, which is investigating Mandelson on suspicion of misconduct in public office - or on grounds of national security or international relations.

We're due to hear from Cabinet Office Minister Nick Thomas-Symonds this morning, and the Conservatives' Alex Burghart - stay here for all the key lines.

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Peter Mandelson repeatedly criticised Prime Minister Keir Starmer's leadership and No 10 in messages to Labour figures contained in the release of a huge trove of documents relating to his appointment as US ambassador.

Starmer appointed Mandelson to the top diplomatic post in December 2024, but sacked him nine months later after new details about his relationship with the late sex offender Jeffrey Epstein emerged.

More than 1,504 pages of WhatsApp messages, emails and other correspondence were released by the government on Monday. Among them was a May 2025 message in which Mandelson told cabinet minister Pat McFadden that Starmer "lacks verve as does the Cabinet as a whole".

The same month, McFadden criticised government policy on welfare and public spending, saying: "Every meeting I have is 'who can we tax in order to pay benefits to others," and adding, "they're asking the wrong questions". McFadden today addressed the comments on social media.

In July, Mandelson told pensions minister Torsten Bell that government "doesn’t do policy, generally speaking, well enough”, while he told McFadden that No 10 was "beleaguered and bereft", needed a "complete revamp" and that "most of them don't think Keir knows what he wants".

Shortly after the release of the files, Chief Secretary to the Prime Minister Darren Jones told the Commons that Mandelson's vetting file concerning his appointment - which has not been included in this release - has been shared with the Intelligence and Security Committee so that it can be published "when we are in a position to do so".

It is understood the Metropolitan Police have asked for the file to be held back while they investigate Mandelson on suspicion of misconduct in public office. Mandelson has denied wrongdoing. Jones said will be a general debate on Wednesday so further questions can take place.

As our political editor Chris Mason writes, "the bad news boomerang of Lord Mandelson’s appointment continues to whizz around and whack this government at regular intervals".

We are ending our live coverage now but you can read the full story here.