Kemi Badenoch’s missed opportunity

The Tories’ preoccupation with China made them miss an open goal

In Westminster, Keir Starmer is preparing for his weekly grilling at PMQs at midday. Kemi Badenoch will likely barrack the Prime Minister about Morgan McSweeney, his former chief of staff, after it emerged that most of his communications with Peter Mandelson will not be disclosed because his phone was stolen following Mandelson’s sacking as US ambassador.

The Times reports today that McSweeney’s phone was stolen by a balaclava-clad e-bike rider on 20 October 2025. A shoddy and inconclusive Metropolitan Police investigation followed. Wes Streeting has described the whole affair as a “cock-up rather than conspiracy”. The Conservatives have made insinuations about a cover-up.

Given McSweeney has already made the final sacrifice and stepped down, there is little these howls of rage can do. If the Conservatives had pushed through a humble address in September or early October, then those messages – whatever they said –might well have ended up in the public domain.

Instead, Badenoch, pursuing an increasingly hardline anti-China approach, dropped the Mandelson affair last October and spent weeks attacking the Prime Minister’s national security adviser, Jonathan Powell, for allegedly mishandling a China spy trial. This goldfish-like approach meant it was another four months before she got round to asking for McSweeney’s text messages.