Police will reopen inquiries into the theft of a mobile phone belonging to Sir Keir Starmer’s ex-chief of staff which held messages relating to Peter Mandelson’s scandal-hit appointment as US ambassador.
The Metropolitan Police admitted failings after The Times reported officers did not properly investigate the theft of Morgan McSweeney’s phone despite his senior No 10 role and the sensitivity of his messages and contacts.
The phone was taken as McSweeney returned home from a restaurant in Pimlico, central London on 20 October last year, the newspaper reported, around a month after the Prime Minister sacked Lord Mandelson as ambassador over his links to paedophile financier Jeffrey Epstein.
But the Met Police examined evidence including CCTV from the wrong address, mistaking Belgrave Road in Pimlico, near Westminster, with Belgrave Street in Tower Hamlets, east London, and will therefore look again into the case.
It is understood that McSweeney played a key role in Mandelson’s appointment, quizzing the peer on his links to Epstein. Starmer has accused Mandelson of lying in his answers.
But the theft of McSweeney’s phone means WhatsApp messages and texts to Mandelson cannot be retrieved, leading some to question if No 10 is engaged in a cover up, which a Downing Street source has denied.
The i Paper understands that the phone in question was Government-issued, which is also likely to raise further questions about what officials did in response to the theft.
Shadow Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster Alex Burghart told The Express the “whole business stinks from nose to tail” and called for “straight answers, not excuses”.
Conservative MP James Wild said: “Having worked in No 10 and Cabinet Office, I would be amazed if [the] Government Security Group was not made aware and then didn’t push police to take action on such an obviously sensitive case.”
Tory former security minister Tom Tugendhat said: “This is a remarkable claim suggesting a serious security breach and no follow-on action by police officers.”
Housing Secretary Steve Reed was meanwhile accused of lying after he told LBC this week that the theft “was reported months before the whole Mandelson situation even began”. The theft is said to have happened a month after the peer’s sacking as ambassador.
SNP MP Stephen Flynn said: “This mobile phone is vital to the Mandelson scandal.
“The Labour Prime Minister’s then chief of staff says it was stolen.
“This Labour Secretary of State [Reed] told the public that the theft happened months before the Mandelson scandal.
“Turns out that’s not true.
“Why did he lie?”
It is unclear whether Reed was referring to the humble address motion tabled by the Tories last month, which eventually led to the Government agreeing to publish documents relating to Mandelson’s appointment.
A Met Police spokesman said: “On Monday, 20 October police received a report from a man in his 40s alleging that his phone had been snatched.
“The incident was recorded as having taken place in Belgrave Street, E1.
“A review of the allegation, including a consideration of whether there was available CCTV, did not identify any realistic lines of enquiry. The investigation was subsequently closed.
“In the course of responding to a recent media enquiry, we became aware that the address was entered incorrectly at the time of the initial call and should instead have been recorded as Belgrave Road, Pimlico.
“Having identified this error, the report will be amended and the assessment of whether there is available evidence revisited.”
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