Ministers who used disappearing WhatsApp messages with Peter Mandelson do not use them with MPs,  senior Labour backbenchers have told Sky News. 

It has led to questions over whether ministers selectively used the function when chatting with Mandelson as they were discussing things they wanted to disappear. 

The government is facing yet more questions over transparency after reports emerged of texts between cabinet minister Darren Jones and Mandelson, which had not been included in the Mandelson files release on Monday or the previous tranche earlier this year. 

It’s understood the messages were on Jones’s old phone, which is why they weren’t submitted.

But one MP told Sky News: “It’s not good. I do not believe that people don’t back up their WhatsApp messages.”

They added: “Also, none of the people who apparently have disappearing messages have disappearing messages with me.”

The MP said they have messages from Sir Keir Starmer, Rachel Reeves and Peter Kyle going back years, and lots of their colleagues have said the same. 

Another MP, speaking to Sky’s political editor Beth Rigby, questioned whether they  “selectively have them with Mandelson” because they were “discussing things that they wanted to disappear”. 

There were very few exchanges between Mandelson, the PM and other senior figures in the 1,500 pages released on Monday. 

Downing Street said the prime minister and other ministers use the disappearing WhatsApp function, which auto-deletes messages after a selected period of time.

This is allowed under government guidance, but a review is underway. 

The most damaging exchange was with the Work and Pensions Secretary Pat McFadden, who disclosed all of his texts, including telling Mandelson that Labour MPs are constantly asking him “who can we tax in order to pay benefits to others”. 

However, the revelations about Jones have led to questions over whether more messages that weren’t disclosed could emerge. 

The messages from Jones included him saying he was “so sorry” about Mandelson’s sacking, which happened following fresh revelations over his relationship with paedophile financier Jeffrey Epstein.

During a debate in the Commons yesterday, Jones said he had not saved them on his devices so “the only person who could release those messages, if they have them, would be Peter Mandelson”. 

One MP speculated Mandelson could have leaked them, as he won’t have liked “Jones turning on him”, after the senior minister said he regretted being close to him. 

However, they said they doubted Mandelson would do that to Kyle, the business secretary, given “Pete is a real-life friend of Mandelson”.