Conservative Party leader Kemi Badenoch has alleged that a Government cover-up "must be" taking place concerning the disappearance of Morgan McSweeney's mobile phone.
Speaking to Camilla Tominey on GB News, Mrs Badenoch pointed to the difficulty in obtaining the Mandelson files and noted significant gaps in the released documentation.
"So many things are missing from the notes," she stated.
The Tory leader raised serious national security questions about the lost device belonging to the Prime Minister's Chief of Staff.
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"Iran could have stolen that phone. Russia could have stolen that phone. We don't know," Mrs Badenoch warned, questioning why the matter was not immediately escalated to security services given McSweeney's access to sensitive information.
"That is fishy," she added.
Mrs Badenoch described the circumstances surrounding the phone's disappearance as "very fishy," suggesting the timing was linked to her initial questioning about Mandelson in September.
"I think that as soon as I'd asked those initial questions about Mandelson back in September, he knew he was in trouble, and so the timing of the loss of the Government phone is suspicious," she said.
Kemi Badenoch has claimed that the Morgan McSweeney phone scandal is a 'cover up'
|GB NEWS
The Conservative leader also highlighted concerns about "disappearing messages" and warned that delays in releasing information would provide opportunities for evidence to vanish.
She emphasised that full compliance with the humble address would not have occurred without Conservative pressure.
"We're the only ones opposing Labour right now," Mrs Badenoch declared, claiming her party was solely responsible for exposing government failings on multiple fronts including the Mandelson scandal and energy policy.
Turning to energy policy, Mrs Badenoch called for renewed drilling in the North Sea, criticising Labour's decision to halt new licensing.
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"I'm in charge of a new party, new leadership, and I'm saying it is time to drill our oil and gas in the North Sea," she declared.
The Conservative leader highlighted that Britain currently imports 40 per cent of its gas from Norway, describing this as "crazy" given that Norwegian operations extract from the same waters.
She argued that importing fuel from more distant sources results in dirtier oil reaching British shores.
"There's billions of pounds of oil that we're leaving down there," Mrs Badenoch said, suggesting revenues could subsidise household energy bills.
Mrs Badenoch told GB News that the missing phones is 'fishy'
|GB NEWS
She blamed Ed Miliband for blocking domestic extraction, claiming he was "really running the country."
On immigration, Mrs Badenoch urged the government to maintain the strength of recently announced measures, amid reports that Keir Starmer may dilute proposals put forward by the Home Secretary.
"They should not water these down. We have offered them all of the Conservative votes to make sure that they get this through," she stated.
The opposition leader acknowledged that migration levels under previous Tory administrations had been excessive, something she said she had apologised for.
"We need to fix our border. Everyone can see that immigration was too high," Badenoch said.