Mandelson files: What you need to know

Mandelson files: What you need to knowJust nowShareSaveAdd as preferred on GoogleReutersThe government has published more than 1,000 pages of documents about Lord Mandelson's stint as the UK's ambassador to the US.It comes after MPs voted to force the release of documents about his appointment to the job, from which he was sacked last year following revelations about the extent of his relationship with the late convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein.The release, split into three volumes, cost over £1m to assemble and is more than 10 times the size of first batch of files released in March. The documents are still being digested across Westminster. Here is a summary of the key points to have emerged so far. A glimpse inside governmentThe document dump contains hundreds of internal emails between officials, as well as hundreds of messages between the peer and government ministers across 56 separate WhatsApp conversations.Taken together, they give a rare level of insight into the workings of government.Some emails, for example, show officials were initially unsure about whether Lord Mandelson needed to undergo so-called developed vetting for his security clearance. They eventually decided he did.Others lay bare the scramble to complete the vetting process as quickly as possible, amid what one official describes as "quite a bit of senior interest" in how quickly the case was progressing.There are details of diplomatic steps taken to win over US President Donald Trump, including a plan to present him with a mock red box, the iconic briefcase used by British government ministers, which never saw the light of day.Ministers' messages to the peer also highlight their private frustrations with life inside Sir Keir Starmer's government.In one WhatsApp exchange, then cabinet minister Pat McFadden reveals his annoyance that meetings are dominated by "who can we tax in order to pay benefits".In another, Work and Pensions Minister Torsten Be...