A snapshot of modern government, everyone. Ministers are now conducting diplomacy via WhatsApp, because nothing says 'sovereign decision-making' like a thumbs-up emoji and a poorly timed meme. The ongoing trawl through roughly 1,500 pages of leaked documents has revealed that Pat McFadden, now Work and Pensions Secretary, had some brutally honest things to say about his own party's reluctance to cut benefits. In a message to Lord Mandelson, he wrote: 'Every meeting I have is 'who can we tax in order to pay benefits to others'. They're asking the wrong questions.' It's the kind of candor usually reserved for drunk uncles at weddings.
Unfortunately for those hoping for a juicy backstory on Mandelson's appointment as ambassador to Washington, the documents are silent on that front. But the political damage is already done. The Prime Minister's authority, already leaking faster than a 2010-era iPhone battery after last month's election results and the ongoing leadership race happening right under his nose, now has to contend with the 'bad news boomerang' of the Mandelson saga. It's a boomerang that keeps coming back to whack him, and at this rate, Sir Keir Starmer's memoirs will have an entire chapter titled 'The One That Got Away (to Washington).' Sign up for our Politics Essential newsletter to keep up with the inner workings of Westminster and beyond - because you clearly don't have enough drama in your life.