After months of David Lammy being able to keep his distance from the Peter Mandelson scandal, exchanges between the deputy prime minister and the then ambassador to the United States have emerged in the latest tranche of government files. Just last week, GB News suggested Lammy could become the next PM if his name continued to stay out of the Mandelson drama.

Broadcaster Steve Allen said on the news programme: “David Lammy was one of the people who came out and said privately he told the prime minister that the appointment was a bad idea. But the other spin on what you’ve just said is these files could increase the odds that somehow we end up with prime minister David Lammy. In which case, redact, redact, redact! I will buy the cartridge ink for you right now, that’s a terrifying thought.”

Now the programme has halted for an alert on Lammy after the next tranche of files emerged.

Christopher Hope was live via video link to explain: “It’s that handwritten note there to David Lammy, who was of course foreign secretary…

“Peter Mandelson said, ‘You won’t regret this. I fear that navigating Britain’s interests through the Trump administration will require superhuman skills and luck, and a massive team effort.’

“For me, it’s the last thing he would do in public life, he said, ‘and it would be a huge honour to serve you and the government in this role’.

“There are large areas of these documents which are redacted, so it’s quite important before we bring these lines that we make sure we get the context right,” he added.

“I’m going through information here about the vetting issue. At one point, one official asked, ‘Do we need to vet a member of the House of Lords in the same way?’ and there were question marks about the people Peter knew.

“The urgency of his appointment is also very clear – don’t forget, the timeline is December 2024, and it was cleared within a month, after Donald Trump was sworn in as president of the United States.”