Sky News ground to a halt minutes into their afternoon show as they announced a major Peter Mandelson breaking news update. On Monday (June 1), Betj Rigby and Jayne Secker returned to the airwaves to deliver the latest news hitting the headlines. But minutes into their lunchtime show, they halted the regularly scheduled programme for a breaking news update about the former US ambassador.

They announced that a second batch of files related to Peter Mandelson’s appointment and tenure in office has been published by the government. The release of this 1,500-page document comes nearly three months after the first publication of the first tranches of files.

They are being published after MPs passed what is known as a “humble address” in February, which is a parliamentary mechanism that commands the government to take action. It came after further revelations about the disgraced ambassador’s relationship with the late American financier Jeffrey Epstein, which were included in documents released by the US Justice Department earlier this year.

The Prime Minister appointed Mandelson to the role in December 2024, but sacked him nine months later after new details about his relationship with the late sex offender emerged. He is currently under criminal investigation over allegations of misconduct in public office and has repeatedly insisted that he has not acted criminally, did not act for personal gain and is cooperating with the police.

In a letter, Lord Mandelson told Justice Secretary David Lammy that he would make sure the government “never regret” appointing him as US ambassador. In a handwritten note, dated November 18, 2024, Mandelson wrote if the government were to appoint me, I would make sure you never regret it”. At the time of writing the note, Lammy was foreign secretary. He was appointed as the UK’s ambassador to the US one month later.

Elsewhere in the files, it was revealed that Peter Mandelson refused to hand over his WhatsApp messages to the government to be published as part of the humble address motion. The government said it made a request to Mandelson via his solicitors on March 31 for “any information held on his personal phone”.

It reads: “Peter Mandelson declined to comply with this request. The government has no further recourse to search the personal devices of Peter Mandelson.” However, some message exchanges with the sacked US ambassador were made available to the government via the phones of recipients.

It didn’t take long before viewers flocked to X – formerly known as Twitter – to share their thoughts on the latest update online, with many taking aim at the Labour leader. One user penned: “Keir Starmer should have quit for his poor policies and decisions. Then the constant Labour scandals, the disastrous Labour govt that’s wrecking the country, but the nail in the coffin should have been appointing Peter Mandelson. How is he still in position? It’s criminal.”

Another agreed: “So far, the Mandelson files aren’t just damning for Keir Starmer, they’re damning for the whole govt,” as a third echoed: “No. 10 best be braced for further embarrassment now the Mandelson papers have been published.”