No 10 refuses to say if key Mandelson texts were lost in phone theft

Downing Street has refused to say whether key messages between Morgan McSweeney and Lord Mandelson have been lost after it emerged that McSweeney's government phone was stolen last year.

The government has promised to comply with a demand from MPs to publish all messages relating to the appointment of Lord Mandelson as US ambassador despite his friendship with convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein.

Asked if that would all include all of McSweeney's messages, the PM's spokesman said he would not comment on the "contents of the second tranche of documents".

Messages from ministers and government aides are expected to be included in the second release, raising questions about whether information held on McSweeney's stolen phone would be accessible.

His messages are seen as crucial because he pushed for Lord Mandelson's appointment to the role in Washington.

His work phone was stolen in October, a month after Mandelson was sacked - but several months before MPs demanded the publication of relevant messages through a procedure known as a "humble address".

It is not known how many, if any, of his WhatsApp messages and other communications had been screenshotted to be added to the official record, in line with what is understood to be standard security guidance.

The PM's spokesman said: "Messages only need to be kept where they relate to substantive discussions or decisions that form part of the official record.

"Significant government information exchanged via these channels must be captured into government systems by copying, forwarding, screenshotting or recording its substance.

"That applies regardless of how and where the communication takes place, including on personal devices."

Asked if McSweeney had followed this guidance, the spokesman said: "Individuals are expected to follow that (guidance).

"They are responsible for deciding how the rules apply to each communication using their professional judgement and considering the context."

He added that "long-established and robust processes to manage information security following the theft of government work devices" had been deployed.

And he said the government would comply with the humble address and all relevant exchanges between ministers, officials and "relevant individuals" would be released "as soon as possible".

The Metropolitan Police has, meanwhile, taken the unusual step publishing a transcript of McSweeney's call to report the theft, after claims the force had said it was "too busy" to investigate it.

The full transcript of the call, which was received shortly before 22:30 BST on 20 October, includes McSweeney saying someone on a push bike "just robbed my phone", adding: "He's come onto the pavement to grab my phone and cycled off on a bike."

McSweeney told the handler the device is "a government phone", that "I rang my office to get the phone tracked and then I rang you", and that he was "definitely" willing to make a statement to police.

It was later discovered that officers had recorded the wrong location of the crime.

The Met said this was because McSweeney told the call handler the alleged crime had happened in Belgrave Street in Westminster, but the correct street name is actually Belgrave Road.

The Met has advised the error came about because the call handler pulled up a matching Belgrave Street in Tower Hamlets.

Describing the thief, McSweeney said he was a slim, black man of average height in his late teens, and later added that he had chased him down the street and then lost him in a park.

The police have also said that, as McSweeney did not share details of his chief of staff role, nor the security risks associated with the phone, that information could not reasonably have shaped its officers' decision making.

The Met said it was reassessing available evidence, following the discovery that officers had recorded the wrong address.

At the time, the Met advised its officers allocated to the case made two attempts to phone McSweeney during working hours but there was no answer and, having reviewed CCTV in the area, they didn't identify any realistic lines of enquiry and closed the case.

Speaking on Wednesday morning, Health Secretary Wes Streeting said he was "not surprised by the cynicism" around reports that McSweeney's phone holding potentially embarrassing information had been stolen.

But he insisted it was most likely due to "cock-up rather than conspiracy", telling told ITV's Good Morning Britain: "I do trust the account that Morgan McSweeney's phone was stolen, for a couple of reasons.

"It was reported to police at the time - I think there's a separate set of questions as to why this wasn't dealt with given that it was a phone of a senior government official that would have contained sensitive information.

"I suspect many people watching who've had their phone nicked will not be remotely surprised that police haven't done anything because that's been their experience too, but it is serious that something that will have contained sensitive information wasn't properly investigated."

Streeting went on to say McSweeney "couldn't have known" in October, when he reported his phone stolen, that the contents of his phone would be wanted by MPs in February as the order to release the documents was "unprecedented".

Streeting added the theft should "absolutely" have been reported to the permanent secretary of the Cabinet Office, Cat Little, and it is understood the Cabinet Office does have some of the messages between McSweeney and Lord Mandelson.