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Keir Starmer is struggling to quell a new Mandelson 'cover-up' crisis over missing messages from a top aide's phone.

The PM insisted this morning it is 'far-fetched' to suggest Morgan McSweeney pretended to have his phone stolen in October to avoid disclosing private exchanges with the peer.

But one of his own MPs openly said last night that he did not 'believe' the former No10 chief of staff's account. The Tories have said the situation 'stinks to high heaven' and demanded Mr McSweeney gives evidence to Parliament.

The missing phone is thought to contain hundreds of messages exchanged with Mandelson both before his appointment as US ambassador and for months afterwards.

In the weeks before the theft the PM's general counsel had been interviewing Downing Street staff about their contacts with the New Labour architect.

There were also reports in September that Kemi Badenoch was looking to use Commons mechanisms to force the release of internal information.  

Last month Parliament ordered the release of all material relating to Mandelson's seven-month tenure, amid anger that his long-standing friendship with paedophile Jeffrey Epstein was ignored.

Police confirmed yesterday that Mr McSweeney reported his phone had been stolen in October last year, just days after Labour officials are said to have warned he would be 'f***ed' if his messages to Lord Mandelson were ever revealed.

Keir Starmer insisted this morning it is 'far-fetched' to suggest Morgan McSweeney pretended to have his phone stolen in October to avoid disclosing private exchanges with the peer

Keir Starmer with Morgan McSweeney (left) in Downing Street last year

Labour MP Karl Turner - an increasingly vocal critic of Sir Keir - posted on X last night: 'I don't believe McSwindle had his iPhone stolen.'

In an unprecedented move, Scotland Yard released the transcript of 999 call made by Mr McSweeney just before 10.30pm on October 21 in which he said his phone had been stolen by a black man on a bicycle.

He told call handlers he had given chase. And he informed them that the stolen device was a 'government phone'.

But he did not reveal his role as the PM's chief of staff, or the fact that his phone contained highly sensitive material.

CCTV was also not checked due to a mix-up over the name of the street in which Mr McSweeney said he had been mugged. 

The police pushed back yesterday against claims by allies of Mr McSweeney that he was told they were 'too busy' to investigate the theft.

The force suggested that because Mr McSweeney did not identify himself the potential 'security risks' could not have 'reasonably' shaped decisions on how to handle the case.

Officers are said to have tried to call the senior adviser twice the following day, without getting a reply. 

Speaking to broadcasters in Helsinki, Finland, Sir Keir Starmer said: 'The phone was stolen. It was reported to the police. There's a transcript of the call in which Morgan McSweeney gives his name, his date of birth, the details of the phone and the police confirm that it was reported.

'Unfortunately, there are thefts like this. It was stolen. It was reported at the time, the police have acknowledged and confirmed that … and the idea that somehow everybody could have seen that some time in the future there'd be a request over the phone is, to my mind, a little bit far-fetched.'

Downing Street refused to say whether any of the messages had been recovered or whether they could be retrieved from Mandelson's phone. It is understood the Cabinet Office does hold some messages between the pair, which are expected to be published at a later date.

Speaking to Sky News' Electoral Dysfunction podcast, Sir Keir later said he 'dwells on' the 'mistake' he made in hiring Lord Mandelson as Britain's ambassador to the US.

'Nobody has been harder on me in relation to the mistake I made there than me,' he said.

'And I'll tell you for why, I've spent years trying to deal with violence against women and girls.

'And as I look back at it now and the mistake I made, I've been really hard on myself. 

'In the immediate days after this all came out, I was particularly hard on myself. So yeah, everybody else was criticising, I get all that.

'But nobody was criticising me more than myself. I'm not trying to, you know, make that a mitigation or an excuse, but, I know I made a mistake. 

He added: 'I know that after nearly 20 years, fighting violence against women and girls, I made a mistake there. And I hate the fact I made that mistake. And I dwell on it. 

'I beat myself up about it. It's certainly not a mistake I'd ever repeat. But, there's no criticism anybody else can level at me that will be as harsh as the criticism I dished out for myself.'

Documents released by the Government have revealed that in the weeks before the phone theft the PM's general counsel had been interviewing Downing Street staff about their contacts with Mandelson

Weeks before the phone theft No10 communications director Matthew Doyle told the PM's counsel of 'back and forth' no the Mandelson issues involving Mr McSweeney 

Mr McSweeney resigned last month saying he took responsibility for the appointment of Mandelson. 

Labour MP Karl Turner - an increasingly vocal critic of Sir Keir - posted on X last night: 'I don't believe McSwindle had his iPhone stolen.' 

In response to other users, the backbencher added: 'I believe the report was made. McSwindle didn't mention that he was the chief of staff to the PM. A significant omission of he'd wanted the police to prioritise the offence.' 

Rosie Duffield, who now sits as an independent MP after leaving Labour, added: 'If there is anyone in Westminster who believes this phone containing potentially damning messages mysteriously went missing/was stolen, I have yet to meet them...'

Labour MP Richard Burgon said on X that he had submitted Parliamentary written question asking whether Mr McSweeney reported the theft to the Cabinet Secretary and what impact it had on national security.

Mr Burgon said: 'Given the serious impact this could have on getting the truth about the Mandelson scandal… we need answers.'

Kemi Badenoch said it was 'very suspicious that the phone got stolen' after it became 'clear that a lot of documents were going to come out'.

The Tory leader told broadcasters in London on Thursday: 'Anyone could have stolen that phone. It could have been China, it could have been Russia.

'I think there are a lot of questions that need answering, and what we need is for Morgan McSweeney and, let's be frank, Keir Starmer to come clean about what happened and why this report was not escalated to the security services.'

Mrs Badenoch raised the issue of messages going missing at PMQs in the Commons yesterday. 

In a reference to Sir Keir's previous legal role, she swiped: 'I wonder what a director of public prosecutions would make of the defence, ''sorry, I can't produce my WhatsApps, my phone's been stolen''.'

The disappearance of Mr McSweeney's phone has left a series of unanswered questions. 

No10 said the theft was reported immediately to Downing Street's security department which was able to wipe its contents remotely.

Labour MP Richard Burgon said on X that he had submitted Parliamentary written question asking whether Mr McSweeney reported the theft to the Cabinet Secretary and what impact it had on national security

The PM left his aides to ask Mandelson questions about his long-standing ties to paedophile Jeffrey Epstein

A three-page 'due diligence' report supplied to Sir Keir on December 11, 2024 flagged the ties between Mandelson and Epstein

But officials could not say whether any attempt was made to track the phone or whether any discussion was had with police investigating the theft.

Despite his high profile, there appears to have been no attempt to establish whether Mr McSweeney was the victim of a random theft – or whether he could have been deliberately targeted by a hostile state.

The first batch of documents disclosed in response to the Parliamentary edict showed Sir Keir did not speak to Mandelson personally before he was appointed, instead leaving it to aides to ask questions about his Epstein ties. 

The next tranche is expected to be released next month.