Starmer faces vote on Mandelson inquiry

Sir Keir Starmer faces a vote on whether he should be investigated over claims that he misled Parliament about the Mandelson scandal.

Sir Lindsay Hoyle, the Speaker of the Commons, said he would allow MPs to decide whether the privileges committee should open an ethics inquiry into claims that the Prime Minister lied when he said “full due process” was followed in vetting the peer.

News that there will be a vote increases the pressure on the Prime Minister. An inquiry by the privileges committee would carry jeopardy because misleading the Commons is traditionally considered a resignation matter for government ministers.

The committee investigated the partygate scandal, and its conclusion that Boris Johnson misled Parliament was ultimately responsible for him standing down as an MP in 2023.

If Mr Johnson had not quit as an MP, the committee would have recommended his suspension for 90 days – a punishment that is more than enough to trigger the process for a by-election.

The vote is likely to be held on Tuesday, after appearances by Morgan McSweeney and Sir Philip Barton before the foreign affairs committee.

Sir Keir has already faced a Cabinet split and resignation demands from his own MPs after he sacked Sir Olly Robbins from his post as the Foreign Office’s top civil servant.

Last week, the Prime Minister claimed he had dismissed Sir Olly because the mandarin should have informed him about vetting concerns relating to Lord Mandelson before the peer’s appointment.

In his evidence before the foreign affairs committee last week, however, Sir Olly claimed there was no need to do so.

This argument was later echoed by Cat Little, the top Cabinet Office civil servant. Cabinet ministers also accused Sir Keir of creating an “us and them” mentality with the Civil Service.

Sir Olly claimed that No 10 applied “constant pressure” on the Foreign Office to appoint Lord Mandelson as ambassador to the US as soon as possible.

Even before the vote was announced, it looked as though this week would be crucial in deciding Sir Keir’s political fate. On Tuesday morning, Mr McSweeney, the Prime Minister’s former chief of staff, and Sir Philip, a former Foreign Office chief, will face MPs to give evidence on the Mandelson scandal.

Sir Lindsay said MPs from across the Commons had reached out to him to demand a vote, including Kemi Badenoch, the Tory leader.

Mrs Badenoch is said to believe Sir Keir lied to the Commons at PMQs last week when he said “no pressure existed whatsoever in this case”.

In an interview over the weekend, the Prime Minister made a distinction between “different types of pressure”. He told The Sunday Times: “There’s pressure – ‘can we get this done quickly?’ – which is not an unusual pressure. That is the everyday pressure of government.”

Responding to news of the vote, Mrs Badenoch said: “Keir Starmer misled Parliament, sacked officials for his own failures, and risked national security with Mandelson’s appointment.

“MPs will now vote on referring him to the privileges committee. The Prime Minister should be held to the same standards he held others.”

A spokesman for No 10 said attempts to launch a parliamentary inquiry were “a desperate political stunt by the Conservative Party”.

Any privileges committee inquiry into Sir Keir would cast a long shadow over his premiership should he survive an expected leadership challenge after next week’s local elections.

[Source: Daily Telegraph]