The ISC says some Mandelson appointment documents are being withheld from MPs, while the government says it will publish as much as possible soon.
Some documents linked to Lord Mandelson’s appointment as the UK’s ambassador to the United States are being withheld from MPs, the Intelligence and Security Committee has said, escalating a transparency dispute over the handling of the appointment.
Lord Beamish, who chairs the committee reviewing sensitive material in the case, said Lord Mandelson’s vetting file was one example of a document that had not been provided through the parliamentary process. He said the government may have legitimate reasons to keep back some information, but argued ministers do not have the authority to do so without seeking MPs’ approval.
The Cabinet Office said the government was “working to publish as much material as we can as soon as possible” and said it took both its obligations to Parliament and national security protections seriously.
The dispute stems from a February vote in which MPs used a parliamentary mechanism known as a humble address to require the government to publish papers relating to Lord Mandelson’s appointment. Ministers initially resisted, citing risks to national security and diplomatic relations, before agreeing that sensitive documents would first be reviewed by the ISC. The first tranche of papers was released in March.
In a statement, Lord Beamish said the committee had now decided on all redactions requested by the government across 337 documents sent to it. He said it was now for the government to publish those documents within 28 sitting days.
But he also raised concerns about the scope of redactions and the completeness of the material sent to the committee. He said the government was redacting documents too broadly, particularly over personal information, and said no body had been asked to assure Parliament that those redactions matched the intent of the humble address.
Lord Beamish also criticised the amount of government business appearing to take place on unofficial systems, pointing to lengthy WhatsApp exchanges involving senior officials and ministers. He said the practice risked creating a lack of an audit trail, which he described as unacceptable in government.
Opposition figures seized on the committee’s criticism. Conservative shadow minister Alex Burghart accused Labour of trying to withhold documents from Parliament, while Liberal Democrat leader Sir Ed Davey questioned why the government was seeking to hold material back.
Sir Keir Starmer announced Lord Mandelson’s appointment to the Washington post in December 2024, saying he would bring “unrivalled experience to the role.” Lord Mandelson was later sacked after further revelations about his long-standing friendship with Jeffrey Epstein, the convicted sex offender. Lord Mandelson has called that friendship a “terrible mistake” while saying he had not seen anything that made him suspect Epstein’s crimes.
The next test will be how much of the remaining material the government releases, and whether ministers seek Parliament’s permission for any documents or details they still want to keep out of public view.
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