The Tories are pressing for a vote on whether to refer Keir Starmer to the Privileges Committee over whether he misled Parliament over Peter Mandelson’s appointment as US ambassador
Attempts to refer Keir Starmer to a sleaze inquiry over the Peter Mandelson vetting row have been dismissed as “political games”.
The Tories are pressing Commons Speaker Sir Lindsay Hoyle to give MPs a vote on whether to refer the Prime Minister to the powerful Privileges Committee over whether he misled Parliament over the peer’s appointment as US ambassador.
The committee previously found Boris Johnson misled Parliament over Partygate and handed him a 90-day suspension. The ex-PM quit as an MP in a fury before the punishment could be imposed.
The Speaker is expected to give a statement to MPs as soon as Monday. While a vote would be unlikely to pass due to Labour’s huge majority, it would pile further pressure on the PM. His judgement has been called into question after the former Labour grandee was sent to Washington despite vetting officials flagging concerns about his vetting.
Dominic Grieve, a former Tory attorney general, said: “Seeing that this appointment is being explored during these processes and all the evidence is not yet considered, it is impossible to see how starting a reference to the Privileges Committee is either useful or indeed ‘due process’.
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“Ensuring that ministers do not mislead Parliament is of great importance but it should not just be turned into political games.”
Harriet Harman, who led the Privileges Committee investigation into Mr Johnson, also advised against the idea. She told LBC: “I don’t… It would be complete duplication. At the moment, there is an investigation going on by the Foreign Affairs Select Committee, so I think it would be a duplication.
“I would say, leave them to sort this out. And of course, we’ve got further tranches of documents to come out into the public domain, because that’s the motion of the House of Commons that’s been passed.”
Baroness Harman said the PM was right to apologise for appointing Lord Mandelson – and said Mr Starmer’s decision to sack Foreign Office boss Sir Olly Robbins had made things worse. “He should just stay with ‘it’s a bad decision’,” she said.
Cabinet Minister Darren Jones said “there is no case to answer” for the PM as Sir Olly had been clear that he did not tell Mr Starmer about concerns over Lord Mandelson’s vetting before he was sent to Washington.
He said: “You have to remember, what are these privileges committees about? The last time it was used was when Boris Johnson told the House of Commons there were no parties in Downing Street.
“It was then shown he was at five of them and got a fine from the police. That’s what these processes are in place for, so the Opposition are just using tactics to try to distract from the fact that the Government is doing good work in this pre-election period.”
A No10 source said: “The Tories are trying to pull off a ridiculous and baseless political stunt the week before the May elections – because they have no answers on the cost of living or the NHS.”
The PM’s nightmare over Lord Mandelson’s vetting will continue this week as MPs prepare to grill Morgan McSweeney, the former No10 chief of staff, and ex-Foreign Office boss Sir Philip Barton on Tuesday.
As questions mount over his leadership, Mr Starmer insisted the “vast majority” of Labour MPs support him and want him to continue as PM. In an interview with the Sunday Times, he said: “What you never hear from are all the people who are supportive, loyal and just want to get on with the job. And that is the vast majority of people in the Parliamentary Labour Party.”
He added: “They’re pleased to be in power. They’ve waited a long time to be in power. And they just want to get on with their job. They don’t make a lot of noise about it. They don’t talk to journalists about it. It’s really important that is reflected in these debates.”
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