What Wolverhampton MP told Lord Mandelson about Labour - explosive new files released

The Cabinet minister responsible for the welfare system who is the MP for Wolverhampton South East complained Labour MPs just want to know “who can we tax in order to pay benefits to others”.

Work and Pensions Secretary Pat McFadden revealed his frustration in a series of messages with Lord Peter Mandelson.

In the WhatsApp exchanges, Lord Mandelson said Sir Keir Starmer “lacks verve” and Chancellor Rachel Reeves could not explain where economic growth would come from.

Lord Mandelson and Mr McFadden are both veterans of the previous Labour administration, serving together in the same department when the peer was business secretary.

In May 2025, in the wake of local election setbacks and the Runcorn by-election defeat, Mr McFadden said: “Lot of manoeuvring here this week. Angela (Rayner), Gordon (Brown). Doesn’t feel good for Keir.”

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Lord Mandelson said: “I have spoken to Morgan (McSweeney) a lot this week and last night I was direct with him – Keir is not leading from the front and Morgan is not organising the centre as it needs to be Gordon has it in for Keir (and Rachel) big time.

“He doesn’t seriously believe that Angela is an alternative but she is an instrument of destabilization. I doubt he thinks Ed is fit for purpose but he is doing to Keir what he has always done to successive Scottish leaders.”

In response to a suggestion from Lord Mandelson that the Parliamentary Labour Party was “mutinous”, Mr McFadden said: “Yes. Every meeting I have is ‘who can we tax in order to pay benefits to others’. They’re asking the wrong questions.”

Mr McFadden, who was then the senior minister in the Cabinet Office, acknowledged Sir Keir’s authority risked being destroyed by a Labour revolt over welfare reforms.

In messages in June 2025, shortly before the Government caved in to provide a series of concessions to rebels, Mr McFadden said: “This welfare thing is very bad.”

Lord Mandelson said there was a “strong anti-Keir tide”.

On June 25, Mr McFadden said: “I think it’s very bad. Defeat, pull Bill or gut it all destroys his authority.”

Mr McFadden became the Work and Pensions Secretary, responsible for the welfare system, in September 2025.

Responding to Mr McFadden’s comments about Labour MPs, Tory leader Kemi Badenoch said: “They are no longer the Labour Party, they are the Welfare Party.

“It doesn’t matter who is in charge of these people, the party for Benefits Street will tax us all into poverty to pay for more welfare.”

Reform UK’s Treasury spokesman Robert Jenrick said: “McFadden has admitted privately what he can’t say publicly: Labour are now the party of shirkers, not workers.”

A spokeswoman for Mr McFadden said: “Pat has said publicly many times that the question we should ask is not what are you entitled to, but how can we change your life?

“That has been his whole approach as Work and Pensions Secretary, focusing on how we best spread work and opportunities to young people in particular, rather than writing them off as the previous government did.”

The files were released after MPs ordered the Government to disclose Lord Mandelson’s messages in the wake of his sacking as ambassador to the US.

In exchanges in the May 2025 exchanges, Lord Mandelson said “I felt when Rachel (Reeves) was here that she was on a growth mission but without an argument about where the growth will come from or how”.

Mr McFadden acknowledged there was a question about “what do we actually do”.

Lord Mandelson said: “It stems from the top and Keir lacks verve as does the Cabinet as a whole. People’s heads are broadly in the right place but you need more people who can execute.

“The Government needs visibly and tangibly to embrace knowledge and risk on everything that will help grow the economy.”

The files showed Lord Mandelson held WhatsApp exchanges with a series of senior ministers, including Wes Streeting, the former health secretary and potential Labour leadership challenger.

Mr Streeting had already released most of his messages with Lord Mandelson, including a July 24, 2025 discussion about Israel and the recognition of a Palestinian state.

Lord Mandelson was disparaging about Mr Streeting’s “hysterical” comments in a message to Mr McFadden the following day.

“Morally and politically, I think we need to join France (in recognising Palestine),” Mr Streeting said.

He suggested Israel was engaging in “rogue state behaviour” and “let them pay the price as pariahs with sanctions applied to the state, not just a few ministers”.

The following day Lord Mandelson told Mr McFadden: “I received a wild long hysterical message from Wes about Israel. I pushed back. I can forward but reflects pretty badly on his maturity in my view.”

Mr McFadden responded: “He is very active on the MPs WhatsApp groups on this subject.”