Reports say federal MP Angus Taylor knew figures he used to attack Sydney’s Lord Mayor were wrong within hours of making the claims.

Mr Taylor and the Daily Telegraph newspaper reported false figures about the Sydney lord mayor Clover Moore’s spending on travel late last year. The Telegraph published a story under the headline “City of Sydney Council’s outlay on flights outstrips that of Australian foreign ministers”.

The reports emerged on 30 September 2019, and neither Mr Taylor nor the newspaper made any effort to correct the record until a formal letter of complaint was received on 22 October.

New documents obtained by Guardian Australia include a series of WhatsApp messages between Mr Taylor and his staff.

It appears that the Telegraph sought comment from Clover Moore’s office before publication, but when the Lord Mayor disputed the figures as being grossly inflated, the Telegraph then queried the figures with Mr Taylor’s office.

This triggered a string of WhatsApp messages between staff members in Mr Taylor’s office. They are referred to only as MS1 and MS2. Over the course of about 90 minutes, they realised their figures were wrong.

“Am I reading this right?” MS1 texted.

“The cost of interstate visits undertaken by councillors while representing the City including the cost of transport, the cost of accommodation and other out-of-pocket expenses was $4206.32.

“The cost of overseas visits undertaken by Councillors while representing the Council including the cost of transport, the cost of accommodation and other out of pocket travelling expenses was $1,727.77.”

Those were the correct figures, not the $1.7 million on international travel and $14.2 million on domestic travel they had claimed.

The full exchange has been laid out by Guardian Australia.