DAN HODGES: A whitewash to make Nixon blush - but it's all pointless because we know how this ends for Keir...

By DAN HODGES, DAILY MAIL COLUMNIST Published: 01:00, 2 June 2026 | Updated: 03:25, 2 June 2026 So now we have the proof. For months, as Keir Starmer and Downing Street dodged and dissembled and distorted and deflected, it became increasingly clear they had no intention of letting the British people see the truth of what was contained within the Mandelson files. But still the Prime Minister pleaded his innocence. The Metropolitan Police’s ongoing investigation into the disgraced peer had to be respected. Fresh files had only recently been unearthed. National security and relations with foreign powers had to be safeguarded. It was, most of us suspected, all a sham. A desperate attempt to cover up the cover-up and mask how Mandelson’s tawdry appointment had degenerated into a full-blown political scandal. Now there is no need for supposition. Contained within the Government’s 1,500-page document dump is the evidence. Keir Starmer is indeed engaged in a whitewash that would make Richard Nixon blush. Watergate was primarily exposed by the information that wasn’t published. The mysterious gaps in the infamous tapes where crucial conversations had been erased. And so it is here. The key to Starmergate is the dog that doesn’t bark. Just over a month ago, Morgan McSweeney – Starmer’s former chief of staff – appeared before the foreign affairs committee. He was a crucial witness, because it was McSweeney who was primarily responsible for managing Mandelson’s appointment. The committee was especially interested in the level of political influence Mandelson had exerted over Sir Keir’s operation. In particular, they pressed McSweeney over reports Mandelson had been in Downing Street on the day of the most recent government reshuffle on September 5, 2025, and had been orchestrating events. This was wrong, McSweeney declared confidently. And what’s more, he would shortly be able to prove it. Mandelson had indeed been in No 10 that day. But in a different part of the building. He had indeed messaged McSweeney via text to discuss the reshuffle. But he, McSweeney, had brushed him off. Keir Starmer kept a low profile and left Downing Street through the back entrance as he braced for the Mandelson files to be released Morgan McSweeney – Starmer’s former chief of staff – appeared before the foreign affairs committee just over a month ago to discuss Mandelson's appointment ‘I believe that the text messages from Mandelson to me on the day will be made available in the Humble Address’, he told the committee. He added that he had responded to Mandelson’s entreaties, but that ‘the only texts back from me to him were at the end of the day, when I said: “Look, I thought we did well, considering the circumstances today.” ’ One committee member pressed him on the point. ‘Are any of your text messages to Peter Mandelson – or not – going to be available in the [wake of the] Humble Address?’ McSweeney was asked. ‘Yes,’ he responded. But they aren’t. In the pages of the Government’s response to the Humble Address, there is not a single message relating to this exchange. What’s more, while there are numerous messages from Mandelson to McSweeney, there does not appear to be a single one of substance from McSweeney travelling in the opposite direction. Indeed, there is something distinctly odd about the nature of their communications. During the brief period he was employed as ambassador, Mandelson and McSweeney were in constant, and direct, contact. According to the files released yesterday, they had a private meeting on January 14, 2025. They had an online Microsoft Teams meeting with other senior government aides on February 18. They had another private meeting that was arranged on May 14. Another ‘bilat’ [bilateral meeting] was arranged on June 6. Additional ‘bilats’ were scheduled on June 13, 20 and 23. On Friday, June 27, a ‘dinner’ was booked, apparently ‘under Morgan’s name’. Yet nowhere in the copious volume of heavily redacted messages, memos and minutes is any record of these private meetings. At the time, Britain’s ambassador to the United States and the Downing Street chief of staff were busy men. They almost literally had the weight of the world on their shoulders. So one can assume they were not discussing the weather in Foggy Bottom. Yet there is not a single record of what they did discuss. Not an action point. Not a follow-up. Not even a ‘thanks for dinner, great to see you, can’t wait for the next bilat, old chum’. There is no communication at all that has been published from McSweeney to the man he had chosen to be Starmer’s man in Washington. And we know for a fact that he was messaging him constantly. On August 16, Mandelson messaged Cabinet Office minister Pat McFadden: ‘I am going mad with the things Morgan is sending me. I’m trying to be constructive. But I just don’t know what to say any more.’ Nor does anyone else. Because those messages have vanished – or have been vanished – into thin air. What the Government was required to do was clear. Aside from those messages that would represent a genuine threat to the safety of the realm, all communications relating to Peter Mandelson’s appointment as Washington ambassador, and his time in post, were to be published. That was the order of Parliament, acting on behalf of the British people. And yesterday Keir Starmer spat in their faces. He is not just taking the electorate for fools; he’s taking them for a ride. The post of US ambassador is the most sensitive in the British diplomatic service. As the farrago over Mandelson’s vetting process has proven, the appointee has access to the most sensitive secrets of the British state and her allies. Should politicians be held accountable for hiding key information from the public? What's your view? All communications relating to Peter Mandelson’s appointment as Washington ambassador, and his time in post, were to be published by order of Parliament And contrary to what the Prime Minister told parliament, he opted not to follow the well-worn processes that have been in place for decades, if not centuries, to ensure the appropriate man or woman is found for such a crucial position. Instead, he opted to take personal charge of that appointment and elevate a close political ally. Yet now he genuinely wants us all to believe that the appointment was made without any record being kept. Again, we are meant to believe there are no minutes. No memos. No shortlist of candidates. Keir Starmer and Morgan McSweeney crashed through the appointment of Mandelson over the concerns of the Foreign Office, the security services and even some of the PM’s most senior aides. And did so without a trace. Remember the evidence that was presented by a raft of senior civil servants about the pressure that was being applied to them and their officials to bundle Mandelson over to the States with undue haste. And yet that pressure was supposedly applied by some sort of mind-reading technology. Because apparently, at no stage did Starmer or McSweeney or anyone else in No 10 bother to jot down a simple note saying: ‘This is why we need Peter.’ It’s farcical. Almost criminally so. Forget the stolen mobiles, the auto-deleting WhatsApps and the hungry government servers that have conveniently devoured the most incriminating messages. Keir Starmer is trying to pull off the most cack-handed and meaningless cover-up in British political history. What’s the point? It’s not going to save him. The full scale of the conspiracy may have been concealed for a while longer. But those selective messages that have been released still lay bare the dysfunctionality, mendacity and vacuity that lie at the heart of his administration. And so that will now be Keir Starmer’s epitaph. The Prime Minister who was devoured by the dog that didn’t bark. The comments below have not been moderated. The views expressed in the contents above are those of our users and do not necessarily reflect the views of MailOnline. By posting your comment you agree to our house rules. Do you want to automatically post your MailOnline comments to your Facebook Timeline? 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