Met Police arrest man over theft of phone at centre of Peter Mandelson scandal investigation

The police have arrested a man in connection with the theft of Morgan McSweeney's phone.

The 28-year-old suspect has been accused of selling the mobile phone that was owned by Mr McSweeney, Sir Keir Starmer's former chief of staff.

On Wednesday the man was arrested in Peckham, south London, however, Mr McSweeney's phone has not been recovered, the Times reports.

Sir Keir's former chief of staff contacted the police on October 20 last year and reported to them a "government device" had been stolen.

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Police recorded the wrong address of where Mr McSweeney said it took place, mistaking it to be in east London, rather than in the central of the capital.

The case was subsequently closed, however, relaunched after details of the incident were reported in the Sun on Sunday.

A Met spokesman said: “Officers investigating the theft of a mobile phone in Belgrave Road, Pimlico on 20 October 2025 have arrested a 28-year-old man on suspicion of handling stolen goods.

“The arrest took place on Wednesday, 29 April at an address in Peckham. The man was taken into police custody and later bailed.

"He is suspected of receiving the phone after it was stolen and then selling it on. He is not suspected of any involvement in the original theft.

“The phone has not been recovered.”

Mr McSweeney's stolen phone has received particular attention due to the loss of his Whatsapp messages, which potentially contain correspondence over Lord Peter Mandelson's ambassadorial appointment.

Lord Mandelson's role as the UK's ambassador to the US has been embroiled in a scandal since revelations of his close relationship with the paedophile financier Jeffrey Epstein were disclosed in September 2025.

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He was consequently dismissed from the role, but since then, pressure has been exerted on the Government to reveal the process of the appointment.

Mr McSweeney, a close friend of Lord Mandelson, subsequently resigned as Sir Keir's chief of staff in February, taking responsibility for the scandal.

However, his stolen phone remained an area of suspicion due to it potentially holding critical information over the decision process to appointment Lord Mandelson, possibly containing what the Prime Minister did and did not know about the extent of the disgraced peer's relationship with Epstein.

The Met police published the exact transcript of Mr McSweeney's 999 call in a bid to shed light on the situation as critics started to call the theft into doubt.

The Met is due to interview No10 officials about the stolen phone.

Police will ask whether Downing Street or the Cabinet Office still have tracking data that could be used to find the still missing phone.

Officials from Mc McSweeney's team might also ben interviewed to corroborate the former chief of staff's story about the theft.

He also sat before the Foreign Affairs Select Committee last month, where MPs, led by Dame Emily Thornberry, questioned him over Lord Mandelson's appointment.

The former chief of staff confessed that not "all" of his phone record would be available to Parliament to go into the Mandelson files, due to the theft.

He said the stolen phone was likely to have revealed any key information as he had shared "everything" from it with Downing Street in September last year.

Also, he admitted that he "probably" used the disappearing message functionality on Whatsapp with the disgraced peer, which meant the correspondence would automatically delete over a period of time.

Mr McSweeney concluded that "everyone could see there were risks" to the appointment.

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