Police did not know security risk in McSweeney phone theft inquiry

Questions should be asked about why the Metropolitan Police did not pursue an investigation into the theft of Morgan McSweeney's phone, Health Secretary Wes Streeting has said.

McSweeney, Sir Keir Starmer's former chief of staff, quit last month in the ongoing row over his role in Lord Mandelson's appointment as the UK's ambassador to the US.

On Tuesday, police confirmed McSweeney had reported his phone was snatched in October last year, but the case had been closed. The Met has now released a transcript of the 999 call.

With the phone potentially containing messages about Lord Mandelson, Streeting said he was "not surprised by the cynicism" but did not "assume deceit" from McSweeney.

Last month, MPs ordered the government to release tens of thousands of documents relating to Lord Mandelson's appointment in 2024, following questions over how the peer was vetted and what was known about his links to paedophile financier Jeffrey Epstein.

Messages from ministers and government aides could be included in the release, raising questions about whether key exchanges held on McSweeney's stolen phone would be accessible.

The phone was stolen a month after Lord Mandelson was sacked as the Washington ambassador, but several months before Parliament voted to publish the correspondence about the appointment, which came through a parliamentary mechanism known as a humble address.

Insisting the issues were most likely due to "cock-up rather than conspiracy", Streeting told ITV's Good Morning Britain: "I do trust the account that Morgan McSweeney's phone was stolen, for a couple of reasons.

"It was reported to police at the time - I think there's a separate set of questions as to why this wasn't dealt with given that it was a phone of a senior government official that would have contained sensitive information.

"I suspect many people watching who've had their phone nicked will not be remotely surprised that police haven't done anything because that's been their experience too, but it is serious that something that will have contained sensitive information wasn't properly investigated."

Streeting went on to say McSweeney "couldn't have known" in October, when he reported his phone stolen, that the contents of his phone would be wanted by MPs in February as the order to release the documents was "unprecedented".

A government spokesperson previously said: "We are committed to complying with the humble address in full while continuing to support the Metropolitan Police with their investigation."

It's understood the government have an established process to manage information security following the theft of government work devices, but the government said they would not comment on security matters.

Streeting added the theft should "absolutely" have been reported to the permanent secretary of the Cabinet Office, Cat Little, and it is understood the Cabinet Office does have some of the messages between McSweeney and Lord Mandelson.

The Met is now reassessing available evidence for the alleged phone theft, following the discovery that officers had recorded the wrong address at the time McSweeney reported a crime.

The Met has now released a full transcript of the call, which was received shortly before 22:30 BST.

McSweeney is recorded as saying someone on a push bike "just robbed my phone", adding: "He's come onto the pavement to grab my phone and cycled off on a bike."

Describing the thief, McSweeney said he was a slim, black man of average height in his late teens, and later added that he had chased him down the street and then lost him in a park.

McSweeney told the handler the device is "a government phone", that "I rang my office to get the phone tracked and then I rang you", and that he was "definitely" willing to make a statement to police.

The incorrect location was recorded because McSweeney told the call handler the alleged crime had happened in Belgrave Street in Westminster, but the correct street name is actually Belgrave Road.

The Met has advised the error came about because the call handler pulled up a matching Belgrave Street in Tower Hamlets.

A Met Police spokesperson said: "On Monday October 20 police received a report from a man in his 40s alleging that his phone had been snatched.

"The incident was recorded as having taken place in Belgrave Street, E1.

"A review of the allegation, including a consideration of whether there was available CCTV, did not identify any realistic lines of inquiry. The investigation was subsequently closed.

"In the course of responding to a recent media inquiry, we became aware that the address was entered incorrectly at the time of the initial call and should instead have been recorded as Belgrave Road, Pimlico.

"Having identified this error, the report will be amended and the assessment of whether there is available evidence revisited."

The Met has advised that, at the time, the officers allocated to the case made two attempts to phone McSweeney during working hours and there was no answer.

They reviewed CCTV in the area but didn't identify any realistic lines of enquiry.