‘Who can we tax to pay benefits?’ Explosive Mandelson files humiliate Starmer
The Daily T
The Telegraph
4.1 • 705 Ratings
🗓️ 1 June 2026
⏱️ 33 minutes
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Summary
Camilla Tominey and Tim Stanley pore over the latest release of files relating to the disgraced peer’s time as US ambassador, including vetting documents, unsolicited messages of advice to Cabinet Ministers and direct communication with Keir Starmer himself.
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Producer: Emma Williams and Liam Askin
Senior Producer: John Cadigan
Executive Producer: Charlotte Seligman
Video Producer: Will Walters
Studio Operator: Meghan Searle
Editor: Camilla Tominey
Highlights
- How Peter Mandelson criticised Starmer and Labour repeatedly whilst US ambassador
- He also asked to push back the start of the role so that he could take a lucrative speaking gig in China
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Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | The Telegraph |
| 0:07.0 | The Mandelson files have dropped and they are explosive. |
| 0:13.0 | They expose how the so-called Prince of Darkness undermined his own Prime Minister at every turn. |
| 0:19.0 | They also describe an amateur Labour Party |
| 0:22.1 | that, according to the work and pensions secretary, |
| 0:25.2 | was only interested in taxing more to pay for benefits. |
| 0:29.4 | Welcome to The Daily Tea with me Tim Stanley. |
| 0:31.7 | And me, Camilla Tominy. Tim, what a time to be reunited and what a time to be alive as the biggest Mandelson's files yet have dropped. |
| 0:50.6 | Yes. |
| 0:51.0 | More than a thousand pages of documents. |
| 0:53.1 | This is the final part. We already saw documents that were related to the vetting process |
| 0:58.2 | for the appointment of Peter Mandelson as ambassador to the United States in 2024. |
| 1:03.5 | These are documents related a bit to that, the time before and the time after. And they're really about Peter Mandelson's communications |
| 1:15.6 | with the government as a whole. Yes. The amount to over 1,000 pages. We've been going through them |
| 1:22.6 | with a fine tooth comb. And it's a question of breaking news because someone may find something new. They might find |
| 1:29.4 | a new needle in the haystack while we're talking. But there are certain themes that stand out. |
| 1:35.0 | So I think this is a game of two halves as far as what the documents show. First of all, they show |
| 1:40.8 | how ruthlessly ambitious, meddling, manipulative and conniving, |
| 1:47.8 | Mandelson was both in landing the role and then in his exchanges with other members of the |
| 1:53.2 | cabinet. And charming and quite funny. Okay, so I've given it a negative spin. That would be the |
| 1:58.7 | positive spin on the Prince of Darkness. His lawyer might say. Indeed. And then we have another story, which is almost the |
| 2:05.3 | more intriguing one, and we'll give you all of these headlines, don't worry, but we have |
... |
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