Met Police trawling through CCTV on the street where Morgan McSweeney’s mobile phone was stolen to ‘establish the facts’
The Metropolitan Police has started trawling through CCTV on the street where Morgan McSweeney reported his phone was stolen to ‘establish the facts’.
Mr McSweeney, who was the prime minister’s chief of staff at the time, reported that a ‘government device’ had been stolen on October 20 last year.
Police took the rare step of releasing details of the 999 call following criticism that it did not fully investigate the theft.
It suggests Mr McSweeney did not identify himself or flag the potential security risks – although he did state it was a Government mobile.
CCTV was also not checked due to a mix-up over the name of the street in which Mr McSweeney said he had been mugged just before 10.30pm.
Scotland Yard has revealed it did not follow up on the incident at the time because there were no ‘realistic’ lines of inquiry.
Officers are only now going through publicly available CCTV and other footage from Belgrave Road in Pimlico as part of the review.
The Government phone was apparently wiped remotely and replaced with another device the next day.
Morgan McSweeney, who was the prime minister’s chief of staff at the time, reported that a ‘government device’ had been stolen on October 20 last year
Officers are only now going through publicly available CCTV and other footage from Belgrave Road in Pimlico as part of the review (Pictured: A CCTV camera on Belgrave Road)
It is understood that the Cabinet Office does have a record of some of the messages between Mr McSweeney and Mandelson.
The Tories said the situation ‘stinks to high heaven’ and demanded a full explanation of why at least some of the messages do not appear to have been backed up.
Shadow Cabinet Office minister Alex Burghart said: ‘We know the government were worried about a humble address in October, shortly before McSweeney’s phone got ‘stolen’.
‘McSweeney didn’t back up the messages and the government didn’t chase the Met for CCTV.
‘From the outset of the Mandelson affair Keir Starmer has tried to cover things up.
‘The Prime Minister did it in September with ”I didn’t know the depth of the relationship”.
‘He didn’t want to release the Mandelson files in February until we forced the Humble Address.
‘Now the Chief of Staff’s phone goes missing and there doesn’t seem to be any intent to get it back or retrieve the messages. Starmer needs to end this cover up now.’
Pictured: Belgrave Road, in Pimlico, central London, where the phone theft took place last autumn
The latest details emerged after a Cabinet minister blamed a ‘cock-up’ for exchanges with Mandelson being lost.
Wes Streeting dismissed allegations of a ‘cover-up’, arguing Mr McSweeney could not have known the Commons would order them to be published.
Mr McSweeney quit Downing Street last month, saying he took full responsibility for the appointment of Mandelson.
The force suggested that because Mr McSweeney did not identify himself the potential ‘security risks’ could not have ‘reasonably’ shaped decisions on how to handle the case.
Officers are said to have tried to call the senior adviser twice the following day, without getting a reply.
CCTV was also reviewed, but because of the confusion around the location nothing turned up. Footage is now being ‘revisited’ using the correct location.
Kemi Badenoch raised the issue of messages going missing at PMQs in the Commons this week.
In a reference to Sir Keir’s previous legal role, she swiped: ‘I wonder what a director of public prosecutions would make of the defence, “sorry, I can’t produce my WhatsApps, my phone’s been stolen”.’
The Daily Mail has contacted the Metropolitan Police for comment.