Health Secretary Wes Streeting published a transcript of his messages with Lord Peter Mandelson on Monday as he sought to distance himself from the peer
Wes Streeting said he did not defy Keir Starmer when he released private WhatsApp messages he had exchanged with Peter Mandelson.
The Health Secretary instead said today it was because he had “nothing to hide” after facing smears over his relationship with the Labour veteran.
Mr Streeting said: “I published my messages because I have nothing to hide, and after a weekend of, frankly, smear and innuendo, I felt it important to put them out there. I always think sunlight is the best disinfectant, and there it is for people to read and see.”
It comes after the government agreed to release tens of thousands of documents relating to Lord Mandelson’s appointment as the UK’s ambassador to Washington. They include WhatsApp messages between the peer and government ministers.
In a bombshell move on Monday, Mr Streeting published a transcript of his messages with Lord Mandelson, as he sought to distance himself from the peer. In one exchange Mr Streeting told Lord Mandeslson he was concerned about his chances of re-election in his Ilford North constituency, where he holds a wafer-thin majority of 528.
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After a council by-election in which Labour lost its safest ward in neighbouring Ilford South to a “Gaza independent” candidate, he said: “I fear we’re in big trouble here – and I am toast at the next election.” He also said in the messages he thinks the government has “no growth strategy at all,” and that Israel is “committing war crimes before our eyes”.
But ministers were warned not to follow him by publishing their private messages with Lord Mandleson whose relationship with peadophille Jeffrey Epstein has rocked the government.
In what appeared to be a rebuke the following day, Mr Starmer insisted the release of messages with the peer must be a “managed process”. The PM said: “The issue of text messages and all information that’s being gathered as a result of the humble address last week, that needs to be a managed process, both in government and obviously, there’s a police element to it.
“So we need to do it in that managed way, so that the right information is released. We need to be totally transparent. That’s what Parliament wants.”
Asked if he had told Mr Streeting off after he released his own messages unilaterally, he said: “I do think that we all need to ensure that we’re all acting together in this, because all the information needs to be pulled together.
“We owe it to Parliament to be totally transparent about it. We need to liaise with Parliament and with the police to make sure we get the process right.”