Mandelson files: 1,504 pointless pages?

After 83 days of waiting, the government has finally released the second tranche of files on the appointment of Peter Mandelson as US ambassador to Washington. The first tranche was already heavy on the filler, but the latest set of documents takes it to a whole new level. It features an incredible amount of seemingly pointless material: Mandelson’s resignation letter appears 8 times, there’s pages of printed versions of Microsoft Teams notifications and the full transcript of a President Trump interview with ABC News. Today, we dissect the files, picking out the parts that do really tell us a lot - in particular about how Peter Mandelson himself operated behind the scenes.Find the best clips from the podcast and more from Helen and Cleo on the show's Instagram page here.This podcast is part of The Independent Podcast Network and is produced in association with Next Chapter StudiosExecutive Producers: Olivia Foster and Carrie RoseProducer: Sam Durham Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Episode metadata supplied by the publisher feed · Published Jun 2, 2026

What this episode covers

After 83 days of waiting, the government has finally released the second tranche of files on the appointment of Peter Mandelson as US ambassador to Washington. The first tranche was already heavy on the filler, but the latest set of documents takes it to a whole new level. It features an incredible amount of seemingly pointless material: Mandelson’s resignation letter appears 8 times, there’s pages of printed versions of Microsoft Teams notifications and the full transcript of a President Trump interview with ABC News. Today, we dissect the files, picking out the parts that do really tell us a lot - in particular about how Peter Mandelson himself operated behind the scenes.Find the best clips from the podcast and more from Helen and Cleo on the show's Instagram page here.This podcast is part of The Independent Podcast Network and is produced in association with Next Chapter StudiosExecutive Producers: Olivia Foster and Carrie RoseProducer: Sam Durham Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

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