Top ally of the PM, Darren Jones, consoled Peter Mandelson after he was sacked for his relationship with convicted paedophile Jeffrey Epstein.

As we’ve been reporting, texts between Jones and the Labour peer leaked to The Spectator show that he said he was “so sorry” for Mandelson’s departure.

The messages weren’t included in the Mandelson files released on Monday, or in the previous tranche released earlier this year. 

It’s understood this is because the messages were on Jones’s old phone, and so weren’t submitted.

But the magazine has also got a hold of a raft of other messages from Jones, too. 

So, what else did the chief secretary to the prime minister say to Mandelson?

Here’s a summary of the reported messages:

Criticisms of Jonathan Reynolds

1. After meeting with Chancellor Rachel Reeves, Jones told Mandelson the government’s growth plans were in her hands and those of then-business secretary Jonathan Reynolds.

Speaking about those plans, he said: “It doesn’t fill you with confidence.”

2. Mandelson criticised Reynolds’s special advisers (SoAds) and those advising him on industrial policy. 

Jones then replied to the Labour peer, saying: “I lost faith in his spads when, on a call about Port Talbot, they repeatedly took a different position to us in HMT [the Treasury] ‘because that’s what the unions want’”. 

Career advice 

3. Jones asked Mandelson for career advice. After “picking up reshuffle chatter” last year, he asked the Labour peer for “thoughts/advice”.

Asked by Mandelson which departments he fancied, Jones replied: “DBT [Business and Trade], DSIT [Science, Innovation and Technology] or DESNZ [Energy Security and Net Zero] in that order. I also like MoD but think that’s unlikely” as he viewed the current defence secretary as doing a “good job”.

DBT ‘not firing on full cylinders’

4. Jones made it clear his preference was to replace Reynolds as business and trade secretary. 

He added a further criticism of the cabinet minister, saying: “DBT [is] my preference – everyone fond of Jonny but perception that DBT not firing on full cylinders…”

Reynolds was later reshuffled to become chief whip.

Jones has apologised over his relationship with Mandelson to parliament in a statement last night. 

He has been contacted for a comment.