Starmer goes into hiding as Mandelson reckoning looms TODAY with huge dump of ‘cringe’ messages between Labour grandee, ministers and aides

Keir Starmer activated submarine mode today as he prepared for a huge deluge of ’embarrassing’ messages between ministers, aides and Peter Mandelson.

No10 has confirmed the Prime Minister will not speak publicly as the Government finally publishes thousands of pages of incendiary material covering the disastrous appointment of New Labour’s architect.

Instead his right-hand man Darren Jones will face MPs’ questions about the statements this afternoon.

The messages are believed to contain cavalier criticism of the embattled Prime Minister by his own senior team. Sir Keir is thought to have personally sent Mandelson an enthusiastic text saying he would be ‘fantastic’ as US ambassador.

But some key documents are still being withheld at the request of Scotland Yard, which is investigating his former colleague over allegations of misconduct in public office.

The government was forced to accept this explanation because of the major Labor rebellion in February; which almost led to Sir Keir being sacked from No 10.

Some insiders fear Andy Burnham may try to exploit the prime minister’s woes for his leadership bid, claiming the Mandelson documents show Westminster is ‘broken’.

Health Secretary James Murray, who toured the broadcast studios this morning, said: ‘I think the level of transparency will be unprecedented.

Sir Keir is thought to have sent Mandelson (pictured) an enthusiastic text saying he would be ‘fantastic’ in the role

‘The volume of information that will be disseminated is unprecedented.

‘It’s right that we do this. We have made it very clear that Mandelson’s appointment was wrong.

‘Parliament then decided that this information should be made public. The Government fully complies with this and it is important that we honor this commitment to transparency.’

In February MPs backed an old parliamentary procedure known as a ‘humble address’ to request documents.

The vote comes after a police investigation into Mandelson was launched and it was revealed Sir Keir went ahead with the appointment despite officials expressing concerns.

The first tranche of documents, released in March, showed Sir Keir had been warned in a due diligence document about Mandelson’s long-standing links to pedophile financier Jeffrey Epstein.

The second set of documents is expected to include messages between Mandelson and ministers and government advisers, including Sir Keir’s former private secretary Morgan McSweeney.

It is unclear how many of Mr. McSweeney’s conversations with Mandelson survived after his mobile phone was stolen last year.

Former health secretary Wes Streeting has already published his own messages alongside Mandelson, including the Gaza controversy and criticism of Sir Keir’s leadership.

However, this batch was adjusted to not include Mandelson’s UK Security Review (UKSV) summary after the Metropolitan Police asked the Government to withhold the document.

UKSV recommended that Mandelson not be given security clearance, but the senior Foreign Office official, Sir Olly Robbins, rejected this advice.

Sir Olly was effectively sacked in April after it emerged he had rejected the advice, with the Prime Minister insisting he was unaware of UKSV’s advice.

The government said it was only keeping the documents requested by the police, all other documents would be released.

Additionally, various documents were redacted to remove personal details such as the names of junior officials or for national security reasons.

An agreement was reached with the Parliament’s Intelligence and Security Committee following a compromise with MPs to make corrections for national security reasons, to prevent a background revolt over the request for documents.

Last month the committee expressed concern that the Government had applied redactions ‘too broadly’ and cited the UKSV review file as an example of documents being withheld where Parliament did not give ministers the ‘power’ to do so.

Lord Beamish, the Labor chairman of the committee, insisted this morning that nothing had been stated to avoid “embarrassment”.

“The committee followed a very firm line in striking the right balance between protecting national security and at the same time ensuring that Parliament and the public see it as much as possible,” the former minister said.

The Conservatives accused the Government of attempting a ‘cover-up’, with shadow minister Alex Burghart writing to the Prime Minister’s principal secretary demanding ‘full transparency’.

Mr Burghart said: ‘I will remind you that the House has given the Government no choice in matters of correction beyond the narrow scope of its modest speech.

‘This behavior will be viewed by the House as disrespectful of Parliament and by the British public as a cover-up.

‘Even if the Prime Minister leaves office in a few weeks, I can assure you that we will hold him accountable.’

Cabinet minister Darren Jones is expected to make a statement to the House of Commons later

The Prime Minister’s official spokesman said: ‘This is a task in which every Government department is involved.

‘The result is the biggest ever Government response to a modest address. This represents thousands of hours of work by officials across Government to deliver unprecedented Government transparency.

‘Our guiding principle throughout has been to comply with the rules as transparently and quickly as possible.’

He added: ‘In order to demonstrate the maximum possible transparency, for example, material of a party political nature will be included in the publication, contrary to usual practice and precedent.

‘A number of documents were also declassified so they could be published.

‘Alongside the documents, we will also provide a clear explanation of the steps taken by officials in this process to collect the documents and the approach to any remediation, in order to provide transparency to Parliament and the public.’

A Metropolitan police spokesman said: ‘An investigation into allegations of misconduct in public office is ongoing and it is vital that due process is followed to ensure that our criminal investigation and any potential investigation is not compromised.

‘We are working with the Cabinet Office to review the relevant documents provided to us by them.

‘Whilst complying with the Modest Conversation is a matter for the government and parliament, we have asked the Cabinet Office not to make certain documents public as it could have a detrimental impact on our investigation or any subsequent investigation.’

Mandelson has denied any wrongdoing.