‘Masterfully done’: Streeting applauded Mandelson over Murdoch dinnerpublished at 19:14 BST 1 June
Joe Pike
Political correspondent
Former Health Secretary Wes Streeting published his WhatsApp exchanges with Lord Mandelson back in February.
So why are we now seeing new
messages about a dinner party the pair had with members of the Murdoch media
empire?
Today’s document dump reveals details of a dinner just before the
general election involving Mandelson, Streeting and various Murdoch executives
including Lachlan Murdoch – the CEO of Fox Corporation and son of Rupert
Murdoch.
Mandelson told Streeting he had received a message from Rebekah Brooks, the CEO of News UK which is also owned by the Murdochs, that “Lachlan really enjoyed the
dinner” and “they all thought everyone in great form”.
Streeting replied: “The highlight of the evening was you
pulling out the Times [newspaper] app and ribbing Tony [Gallagher, editor of
The Times]”.
Mandelson said that “these people have to be kept on their
toes” and Streeting responded that “it was masterfully done”.
An ally of Wes Streeting tells the BBC: “During the election campaign, at the request of Keir’s office, Wes met with the editors of the Guardian, the Sun and Times, to win their endorsements for Labour. He is proud of the part he played in booting the Tories out and getting a Labour government elected.”
On the discrepancy in published messages, allies of the former health secretary point out that Streeting published his communications starting from six
months before Mandelson became US ambassador in February 2025.
Yet the UK government has published messages from six months
before Mandelson’s appointment – which was announced in December 2024. And therefore their remit goes back to June 2024 and two
additional exchanges between the pair have now appeared.
The BBC has approached Streeting for comment.
