Interesting exchange between McSweeney and Tory MP Whittingdale, which could form part of Badenoch's case to MPspublished at 12:13 BST

12:13 BST

Henry Zeffman
Chief political correspondent

Quite an interesting exchange between Morgan McSweeney and the Conservative MP Sir John Whittingdale, there.

Whittingdale was pushing McSweeney hard on why the documents published by the government so far as part of the ‘humble address’ have not included any records of when the PM actually made the decision to appoint Peter Mandelson as ambassador.

McSweeney suggested there was an eventual meeting where Starmer, with a close inner team, did make the final decision. But there is no minute or record of that meeting.

Expect this to form part of Kemi Badenoch’s case in the privileges debate later that, contrary to what Starmer has argued, due process was not followed.

Thornberry asks whether McSweeney gave Mandelson the job because he was his "hero".

McSweeney rejects this, saying that's an "exaggeration" of his relationship with Mandelson, saying his judgement was "always in the national interest" as he thought Mandelson's experience as EU Commissioner would help to get a trade deal with the US.

He says the first person to put Mandelson's name down for consideration was Mandelson himself. McSweeney then repeats Starmer was "keeping his cards close to his chest" in terms of candidates, particularly before the US presidential election.

McSweeney thought Mandelson had rebuilt a "reasonable reputation" for himself after his last resignation, and believed his relationship with Epstein was a "passing acquaintance".

Finding out that Mandelson's relationship with Epstein was more extensive was "like a knife through my soul", McSweeney says.

"I did not expect that level of connection."

"I thought he had reestablished himself as a credible, political figure," he says.

Chris Mason
Political editor

A couple of key quotes from Morgan McSweeney stand out for me so far.

Firstly, and unsurprisingly, that his enthusiasm for Lord Mandelson being appointed ambassador was "a serious mistake".

At the heart of his misjudgement, he said, was his understanding at the time that Lord Mandelson’s relationship with Jeffrey Epstein was as "a passing acquaintance" - and when he later discovered it was much closer than that it was like "a knife through my soul".

Image source, US Committee on Oversight and Government Reform

The evidence session now runs through some of the meetings that happened in December 2024 that lead up to the announcement that Peter Mandelson had been appointed as US ambassador.

Was there an agreement to tell the King and the incoming President Trump in the knowledge that the appointment would be dependent on vetting, Thornberry questions.

McSweeney says he wasn't involved in any decisions about when to tell the King that Mandelson had been appointed.

Thornberry interjects to say that it "makes sense" that the appointment could not be made without vetting, but McSweeney explains that it "didn't jump out as a problem" for him at the time, citing his own appointment before he went through the Developed Vetting (DV) process.

"It didn't occur to me to ask because that's how I saw the practices being put in place," he says - adding that Starmer is right in saying it shouldn't happen, which is why he has taken steps to ensure it doesn't happen in the future.

McSweeney agrees it would have been "very embarrassing" for a lead candidate to fail the DV process but says if there had been problems, the candidate would have been pulled at that point.

How did McSweeney persuade the PM that Peter Mandelson should be the lead candidate for the role of US ambassador, McSweeney is asked by Thornberry.

Mandelson's experience as an EU trade commissioner was the key reason, he replies.

But he's pushed by Thornberry on whether, as a friend of Mandelson’s, it is appropriate to speak to the prime minister during the due diligence process on him.

McSweeney agrees that in hindsight it would have been much better to have someone else ask the follow-up questions around due diligence.

"It wasn't my decision,” he stresses. “It was the prime minister's decision" to appoint Mandelson.

Harry Farley
Political correspondent

Morgan McSweeney was clear at the outset of his evidence that he advised in favour of Lord Mandelson's appointment and apologised for that.

But he has stopped short of taking full responsibility.

McSweeney's said a number of times other senior advisors and ministers were consulted and if it had just been him arguing for Mandelson's appointment, it would not have happened.

"It wasn't my decision. It was the prime minister's decision," he says.

What happened in early December 2024, Dame Emily Thornberry asks, "for Mandelson to become the lead candidate".

McSweeney replies the first decision the prime minister had to make was "did he want a political appointment or not?"

Starmer would have made his decision and told his principal private secretary, so candidates could be procured.

"He could have gone in a different direction at that point", McSweeney says.

He continues saying he doesn’t recall having any strong disagreements with anyone in No 10.

Two "strong candidates" were procured for the PM - former Chancellor George Osborne, and Mandelson - and he told the PM these were both "appointable" candidates.

"I can't recall anyone saying that Mandelson was not appointable," he adds.

There were conversations being held in No 10 about who could be the best candidate for ambassador to Washington, McSweeney says, with several individuals making arguments for and against the names suggested.

He goes on to say there were a lot of people against the idea of Mandelson being appointed at the time, but adds Keir Starmer is the kind of person who will listen to a lot of views when making a decision.

He says that the prime minister likes to build a consensus within his team and that he took time the make the decision that he reached.

Thornberry now asks if McSweeney sought advice on whether Mandelson could be US ambassador on a part-time basis, as Mandelson was also seeking a role as chancellor of Oxford University.

McSweeney replies that he doesn’t “have any recollection” of that, but Thornberry pushes for an answer.

Mandelson was "lobbying" for the ambassador role, McSweeney says, but "hedging" by looking at other opportunities, such as Oxford.

Mandelson holding both positions would be "incompatible", he adds.

McSweeney is asked to explain the process behind a political strategy document he penned - named 'Labour for the Country' - after the party lost a Hartlepool by-election.

Was Mandelson involved in writing this?

McSweeney replies that he wrote the document in February 2021 ahead of local elections, and asked Mandelson for his input.

"But I also sent it to half the Shadow Cabinet, I also sent it to other colleagues..." he adds, explaining that he'd usually send this sort of document to 10-15 people to get a wider view.

The former chief of staff is then asked about Mandelson's alleged involvement in a reshuffle after then Deputy Prime Minister Angela Rayner resigned in September 2025.

McSweeney clarifies Mandelson had been in No 10 on the day of the reshuffle but had no involvement in it.

Text messages he received from Mandelson that day were part of a number of messages he received from several people, McSweeney adds, suggesting he didn't reply to the texts or seek advice from Mandelson at the time.

Pushed further on why exactly the ambassador to the US was in No 10 that day, McSweeney says: "It wasn't a planned reshuffle", suggesting only the prime minister and a handful of senior staff were in the room as the reshuffle was organised.

Describing his relationship with Peter Mandelson, McSweeney says the former ambassador was a "confidant" and an "adviser" at times, but he did not act as a "mentor", as has been suggested in some press coverage.

"I first had a conversation with Peter Mandelson in 2017,” he says.

“I don't think I really started going to him for advice until about 2021, he continues, adding the advice he got from Mandelson “was useful”.

Dame Emily Thornberry then asks about reports that Mandelson was helping to "vet [parliamentary] candidates" ahead of the 2024 UK general election and was given access to a "secret Google spreadsheet" of candidates.

McSweeney says he has no knowledge of the existence of any "secret spreadsheet", adding: "Mandelson had nothing to do with the selection, or the vetting, of any of our parliamentary candidates”.

Image source, EPA

A formal decision on who to appoint as ambassador was not made by Keir Starmer until after the US presidential election in November 2024, McSweeney says.

He adds that he doesn’t recall there being much discussion ahead of the election, and there was a list of candidates being considered.

"I don't think the prime minister would have chosen Mandelson if Kamala Harris had been elected president," he says.

McSweeney continues that he personally felt Mandelson was the strongest candidate due to his experience as European trade commissioner, as the prime minister's priority was to achieve a trade deal with the US.

Chris Mason
Political editor

An interesting early detail just now from Morgan McSweeney about the longevity of Sir Keir Starmer’s thinking about the appointment of an ambassador to Washington.

McSweeney told the committee that as early as January or February of 2024 - with the election, as it turned out, six months away and potentially further — Labour told the civil service in what are known as "access talks" that Sir Keir was minded to make a political appointment to Washington.

McSweeney continues with his statement by describing his role in appointing Mandelson.

He says he made a recommendation based on his judgement of Mandelson's "experience, relationships, political skills".

He adds: "What I did not do was oversee national security vetting, ask officials to ignore procedures, request that steps should be skipped, or communicate explicitly or implicitly that checks should be cleared at all costs.

"I would never have considered that acceptable."

He tells the committee he made a "serious mistake" in recommending the appointment of Mandelson, and says he hopes to help it establish facts today.

Keir Starmer's former chief of staff Morgan McSweeney begins his Foreign Affairs committee questioning with a short statement.

He addresses the victims and survivors of Jeffrey Epstein, apologising for any hurt or distress caused to them by the controversy around Lord Mandelson's appointment.

McSweeney then says Mandelson's appointment was a "serious error in judgement" and he was "wrong" to advise Keir Starmer in favour of appointing Mandelson.

"The prime minister relied on my advice, and I got it wrong," he says.

Morgan McSweeney, the prime minister's former chief of staff, has started answering questions from MPs on his role in the appointment of Lord Mandelson as the UK's ambassador to Washington.

You can watch live above.

Today's big political moments don't stop at the Foreign Affairs Committeepublished at 11:09 BST

11:09 BST

Chris Mason
Political editor

Greetings from a Transport for Wales train trundling from Crewe to Cardiff - a reminder that today’s big political moments don’t end with the testimonies to the Foreign Affairs Select Committee or the debate in the Commons later.

Tonight, there is a 90-minute live TV debate on the BBC involving the six leading parties contesting the elections to the Senedd, the Welsh Parliament.

All this amounts to a nightmarish backdrop for Labour in the Welsh elections, the Scottish elections and the English local elections.

Not because millions of people are devouring every detail of the Lord Mandelson saga, I’m sure many are not. But because it loiters like a big, dark, threatening cloud over everything else the party wants to focus on.

What stood out for me from Sir Philip Barton’s testimony?

He worried at the time that Lord Mandelson’s connections to Jeffrey Epstein “could be a problem in the future.”

But he wasn’t consulted in advance - despite his vast diplomatic experience, including in America.

In fact, he found out very late that Lord Mandelson was being made ambassador to Washington - just before it was announced.

His view was that it was unusual for someone to be announced into a role before the vetting process had been complete.

He distinguished between the real pressure to get him out to America ASAP and, he said, there being no pressure relating to the substance of sorting his vetting.

And, perhaps unsurprisingly, his swerved some of the juicier opportunities he was given to wade into the various political rows around all this that are still swirling - the sacking of his successor Sir Olly Robbins chief among them.

He did, rather helpfully for the next witness, the Prime Minister’s former chief of staff Morgan McSweeney, say he did not recall McSweeney ever swearing at him to get a move on in sorting Lord Mandelson’s vetting.

We've just finished hearing evidence from Philip Barton, the former top civil servant at the Foreign Office.

Next up is Morgan McSweeney, Keir Starmer's ex-chief of staff who left No 10 in February. We expect him to be questioned on his role in advising the PM to appoint Mandelson as ambassador.

He is due to begin answering questions at 11:00.

Image source, PA Media

Former top civil servant in the Foreign Office, Philip Barton, has now finished giving evidence to MPs on the Foreign Affairs Committee, taking questions on his involvement in appointing Mandelson as US ambassador, before he left the Foreign Office in January 2025.

He said he was not consulted over the decision to appoint Mandelson - but that given Mandelson was a political appointee, it could be “reasonable” for civil servants to not be directly involved in discussions.

He claimed he was first made aware of the decision on 15 December 2024. That’s quite something, considering the decision to appoint Mandelson was made public days later, our political editor Chris Mason writes.

Barton was “worried” that Mandelson’s links to Jeffrey Epstein “could be a problem in the future” - but said No 10 was “uninterested”in his concerns.

The former civil servant found it “odd and insufficient” that the Cabinet Office initially suggested not vetting the former US ambassador.

On the question of pressure being placed on the Foreign Office, Barton says there was no pressure surrounding the vetting itself - but “absolutely” there was pressure to get the case done“as soon as possible”.

He added he was confident the appropriate processes were carried out around Mandelson's appointment, despite it being "unusual" to be announced by No 10 before vetting.

Stick with us as Morgan McSweeney is about to be questioned.

Conservative MP John Whittingdale asked Barton about the damage that has been done to the civil service as a result of the ongoing row.

Barton said the British system of government works best when civil servants and ministers work together "effectively" to deliver government programmes - with this delivery being affected when this is not happening.

He said the pair need to have "load-bearing relationships" and there are "self-evidently" now challenges for people in those relationships.

He adds that he would like to see the government and civil service get back to a point where they have "trusting" relationships.