Tranche of McSweeney-Mandelson messages 'not lost' despite phone theft - reports

Some messages between Morgan McSweeney and Peter Mandelson still exist despite the theft of the Prime Minister's ex-chief of staff's phone, reports have suggested.

The Cabinet Office is understood to hold a number of text and email exchanges between the pair.

The existence of McSweeney's messages with Mandelson has been under intense scrutiny since it was reported his work device was stolen in October last year shortly after Mandelson was sacked as US ambassador.

Police earlier on Wednesday took the unusual step of releasing a transcript of the 999 call reporting the theft of Mr McSweeney's phone.

The Metropolitan Police, which wrongly recorded the theft as having taken place in east London rather than Westminster, stressed officers and staff did not know the caller's job or the sensitivity of the material that would have been saved on his phone at the time.

In the course of the call, he gives his name, a personal email address and a home address outside London, and he says the device is a Government phone and that he has called his office to get it tracked.

He wrongly gives the location as Belgrave Street, which is in Tower Hamlets, rather than Belgrave Road in Westminster, during the call on October 20 last year.

The error, uncovered when the Met was responding to a media query about the case, meant officers checked the wrong CCTV and concluded there were no realistic lines of inquiry to follow. This is now being reviewed.

Downing Street was keen to emphasise that the phone theft happened "months before" MPs compelled the Government to release correspondence related to Lord Mandelson's appointment as the UK's ambassador to the US.

MPs moved in February to force the publication of tens of thousands of documents amid questions over what was known about the peer's links to paedophile financier Jeffrey Epstein before he was handed the Washington job.

Mr McSweeney quit Downing Street last month, with many having blamed him for pushing the appointment.

Concerns have been raised over the fact that the phone of the Prime Minister's then-top aide was not backed up, leading to the loss of the correspondence.

Mr Streeting on Wednesday said Mr McSweeney "couldn't have known" the exchanges would later be needed for scrutiny.

It is unclear what efforts No 10 made to retrieve the phone, and Sir Keir's spokesman refused to comment on confidential "security arrangements", adding that "long-established and robust processes to manage information security" after the theft of a Government work device were deployed.