Met Police trawling through CCTV on the street where Morgan McSweeney’s mobile phone was stolen to ‘establish the facts’
The Metropolitan Police began scanning CCTV footage from the street where Morgan McSweeney reported her phone stolen to ‘establish the facts’.
Mr McSweeney, who was the prime minister’s private secretary at the time, reported the theft of a ‘government device’ on October 20 last year.
Police took the rare step of releasing details of the 999 call following criticism that they did not fully investigate the burglary.
This suggests that Mr. McSweeney did not identify himself or indicate potential security risks; although he stated that it was a Government mobile phone.
CCTV was also not checked due to confusion over the name of the street where Mr McSweeney said he was attacked just before 10.30pm.
After Mr McSweeney incorrectly stated his location as Belgrave Street rather than Belgrave Road, the Met incorrectly recorded that the theft took place in east London rather than Westminster.
Scotland Yard said it did not pursue the incident at the time because it did not have a ‘realistic’ line of inquiry.
Officers are only reviewing public CCTV and other footage from Belgrave Road in Pimlico as part of the investigation, according to The Times.
Morgan McSweeney, then the prime minister’s private secretary, reported the theft of a ‘government device’ on October 20 last year.
It appears that the government phone was remotely wiped and replaced with another device the next day.
Officers are only now reviewing public CCTV and other footage from Belgrave Road in Pimlico as part of the investigation (Image: A CCTV camera on Belgrave Road)
The loss of former top aide Morgan McSweeney’s phone means key messages about Lord Peter Mandelson’s appointment as US ambassador will not be made public.
It is understood that the Cabinet has a record of some of the messages between Mr McSweeney and Mandelson.
Conservatives said the situation ‘smelt very bad’ and demanded a full explanation as to why at least some of the messages appeared not to have been backed up.
Shadow Cabinet Office minister Alex Burghart said: ‘We know the government was concerned about a low-key address in October, shortly before McSweeney’s phone was ‘stolen’.
‘McSweeney did not support the messages and the government did not pursue the Met for CCTV.
‘Since the beginning of the Mandelson affair, Keir Starmer has tried to cover up the events.
‘The Prime Minister did this in September, saying, ‘I did not know the depth of the relationship.’
‘He didn’t want to release the Mandelson files until we pushed the Humble Address in February.
‘Now the Chief of Staff’s phone goes missing and there seems to be no intention of getting it back or retrieving the messages. Starmer needs to end this cover-up immediately.’
Picture: Belgrave Road in Pimlico, central London, where the phone theft took place last autumn
The latest details emerged after a Cabinet minister blamed ‘failure’ for the loss of Mandelson swaps.
Wes Streeting rejected allegations of a ‘cover-up’, claiming Mr McSweeney did not know the House of Commons would order their publication.
Mr McSweeney left Downing Street last month, saying he took full responsibility for Mandelson’s appointment.
Police argued that because Mr McSweeney did not identify himself, potential ‘security risks’ could not ‘reasonably’ shape decisions about how to handle the case.
Officers are said to have tried to call the senior adviser twice the next day but received no response.
CCTV was also reviewed, but due to confusion at the location it revealed nothing. Images are now ‘revisited’ using the correct location.
Kemi Badenoch raised the issue of missing messages at PMQs in the House of Commons this week.
Referring to Sir Keir’s previous legal stint, he slid: ‘I wonder what a director of prosecutions would think of the defence, “sorry, I can’t show my WhatsApps, my phone has been stolen”.’
According to government sources, the Cabinet Office is working on a fact-finding plan and will ask the former Labor grandmaster to provide whatever he has to cover the unassuming address used to ensure the cables are released.
Lord Mandelson, a political appointee rather than a career diplomat, was fired from his post in Washington in September last year over his links to Epstein, who died in 2019.
The first tranche of documents related to the decision were released earlier this month following MPs’ demand for transparency, with more to come.
Mr McSweeney left Downing Street last month and many accused him of delaying Lord Mandelson’s appointment.
The Daily Mail has contacted the Metropolitan Police for comment.
