Prime Minister Keir Starmer Faces Make Or Break Commons Test

Keir Starmer will battle to save his job as he faces MPs amid calls for him to resign over the Peter Mandelson vetting scandal.

A Labour peer is among those demanding the prime minister quit after it was revealed the shamed former US ambassador failed security vetting before taking up the plumb diplomatic role.

Starmer said he was “furious” that he was not told that Olly Robbins, the top civil servant in the Foreign Office, had ultimately cleared Mandelson to carry out the job.

The PM only found out last Tuesday – and Robbins was sacked on Thursday night.

Starmer has been accused of lying to parliament and the public for previously stating that all of the appropriate vetting processes had been followed before Mandelson was appointed.

He will make a Commons statement on Monday before facing questions from MPs about what he knew and when.

Supporters of Olly Robbins have insisted he was legally precluded from telling the PM that Mandelson had failed the security vetting, but that has been denied by Downing Street.

“No law stops civil servants sensibly flagging UK Security Vetting recommendations, while rightly protecting detailed sensitive vetting information, to allow Ministers to make judgements on appointments or on explaining matters to Parliament,” the government said.

Scottish secretary Douglas Alexander told Sky News: “There are rightfully and reasonably important questions that need to be answered today. Keir Starmer’s going to set out all the facts. The right place for those questions to be answered are at the despatch box in the House of Commons.

“But we saw the leader of the opposition, as recently as Friday, claiming that the prime minister lied.

“That central contention that he wilfully and intentionally misled parliament and the public now relies, given what has emerged since then, relies on what would need to be a growing conspiracy, not just of every minister involved in this process, but of a growing list of civil servants.

“These judgments matter, and in that sense people need to reach a judgment in the round. The right place to do that’s in the House of Commons this afternoon, and the prime minister will set out his case.”

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