Minister points main replace on publishing the Mandelson recordsdata | Politics | News | EUROtoday

The Government has stated it can publish the primary set of Mandelson file paperwork round February 23, days earlier than the Gorton and Denton by-election.

In a press release this afternoon, Cabinet Office Secretary Darren Jones stated that whereas the federal government remains to be combing by means of the massive amount of paperwork it has been ordered to publish, many will emerge when Parliament returns from its imminent recess.

Mr Jones stated: “Government Departments have been instructed to retain any material which may be relevant, and work is now underway to identify which documents fall in scope of the motion.

“We will publish a primary set of paperwork as quickly as potential after the House returns from recess.”

The Government has been forced to publish potentially tens of thousands of documents after the Tories succesfully passed a motion in the Commons last week.

MPs will enter recess this afternoon, meaning no official government business can continue through the House of Commons until it returns on the 23rd.

Mr Jones also reminded MPs that the Met Police has issued a warning about releasing material that may undermine their ongoing investigation into whether Mr Mandelson breached rules around behaviour in public office.

Mr Mandelson stands accused of passing Jeffrey Epstein market-sensitive information while serving as a Cabinet Minister under Gordon Brown.

Mr Jones, the Chief Secretary to the Prime Minister, added: “Senior officers have this week met with the Intelligence and Security Committee to debate what the Committee requires as a way to fulfil its function in relation to the Humble Address. We are working with the Committee to place in place processes for making accessible to them materials referring to National Security or International Relations.

“The Government is very grateful to the Committee for their work and commits to full engagement with them to ensure these processes are timely and effective.

“The Government continues to take this matter extremely critically given the character of the problems at stake and scope of fabric in place, and we’ll be certain that Parliament’s instruction is met with the urgency and transparency it deserves.”

MPs backed a Conservative motion on February 4 demanding the release of documents relating to Lord Mandelson’s appointment as ambassador.

However the requested documents went much further, and will force the publication of thousands of text messages and emails relating to Mandelson’s involvement in the Labour government since it came to power in 2024.

That same day Sir Keir finally told MPs that he knew about Mandelson’s ongoing friendship with Jeffrey Epstein when he appointed him as Washington Ambassador.

The PM has repeately said, however, that the then-peer “lied repeatedly” about the extent of the friendship during vetting procedures.

Lord Mandelson, a political appointment rather than a career diplomat, was sacked from his US position in September last year over his links with Epstein, who died in 2019.

His continued association with the financier following a 2008 conviction for soliciting a minor had been widely reported before his return to the political front line, when he was named as ambassador in 2024.

But paperwork launched as a part of the US Department of Justice’s Epstein Files raised new considerations in current weeks.