McSweeney's missing Mandelson messages
The News Agents
Global
4.1 • 5.4K Ratings
🗓️ 25 March 2026
⏱️ 49 minutes
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Summary
The Met police took the unusual step of publishing a full transcript of a phone call that took place last October between Keir starmers chief of staff Morgan Mcsweeny and the 999 emergency services. In the call Morgan says his phone has been stolen out of his hand by a young man on a bike. He tells them it is a government device but doesn’t explain what his own role is or whether the material on it maybe confidential.
Why does any of this matter? Because the phone in question contained key messages between McSweeney and Peter Mandelson in the lead up to his appointment as ambassador to the United States.
Will we ever get to the truth of what happened between them? Will the public get past the “convenience“ of an apparently stolen phone? And were ministers sent out to fudge the truth on Morgan’s behalf as recently as this weekend?
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Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | The Newsagents podcast is brought to you by HSBC UK, opening up a world of opportunity. |
| 0:07.1 | I understand that the Cabinet Office does have some messages between Peter Mandelson and Morgan McSweeney. |
| 0:12.8 | Potentially vital messages between McSweeney and Mandelson might not be available |
| 0:19.2 | because the phone was nicked about three or four weeks |
| 0:24.7 | after Mandelson had been fired as our ambassador. That's a bit convenient, isn't it? |
| 0:34.5 | This is a global player original podcast. |
| 0:38.0 | Mr Speaker, the Prime Minister loves to hide behind legal process. |
| 0:42.3 | I wonder what a director of public prosecutions would make of the defence, |
| 0:47.3 | sorry, I can't produce my WhatsApps, my phone's been stolen. |
| 0:52.7 | That's Kemi Badenock in the House of Commons this lunchtime. |
| 0:56.4 | And if you haven't got a clue what she's talking about, |
| 0:59.0 | she's talking about Kia Stama's former Chief of Staff, Morgan McSweeney, |
| 1:03.9 | who appears to have lost his mobile phone or had it stolen just weeks after Peter |
| 1:10.2 | Mandelson had left as Britain's ambassador. |
| 1:14.6 | Funny that, isn't it? |
| 1:16.5 | Welcome to the newsagents. |
| 1:22.6 | The Newsagents. |
| 1:24.3 | It's John, and today I have been abandoned by Lewis Goodall and Emily Maitlis |
| 1:28.6 | who are off in other places but I'm going to be joined by Agi Chambre, LBC's Deputy Political |
| 1:35.2 | Editor. And it's perfectly possible this story may come at you as something completely new |
| 1:40.6 | because let's face it we've all been obsessed over the past few weeks by what |
| 1:44.8 | has been happening in Iran and the Middle East and the unfolding kind of drama and chaos of all of |
... |
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