Keir Starmer has insisted he has complied with requests to hand over his WhatsApp messages relating to Peter Mandelson’s appointment as US ambassador, after it was revealed the British prime minister uses disappearing messages on the communications app.
Only a limited number of text messages between the former ambassador to Washington DC and the Brtish prime minister were disclosed in the Mandelson files released to Parliament on Monday.
Downing Street confirmed on Tuesday that Starmer uses the disappearing messages function on WhatsApp, so communications with Mandelson on that platform would not be preserved.
The British prime minister defended his use of the function when speaking to broadcasters.
Starmer said: “Let me assure you I have complied with the humble address.
“All the messages I hold have been passed over.
“I went through the same process as everybody else.
“And many people, not just in politics, use disappearing messages.”
Some of the WhatsApp messages detailed in the files proved embarrassing for Starmer, whom Mandelson described as “consistently going for direction B”.