Rival parties are piling pressure on Commons Speaker Sir Lindsay Hoyle to refer Sir Keir Starmer to a formal sleaze investigation, amid claims the Prime Minister misled parliament over the Lord Mandelson vetting scandal.
Kemi Badenoch is spearheading a push to send Starmer before the privileges committee — the same body that brought Boris Johnson’s political career to an end after concluding he had deceived the Commons over the lockdown parties. The Conservative leader has secured backing from her Liberal Democrat and SNP counterparts, who are separately lobbying Hoyle to take action.
At the centre of Badenoch’s case is Starmer’s assertion that “due process” was followed when Mandelson was appointed US ambassador in 2024. That claim sits awkwardly with the established fact that Simon Case — then cabinet secretary and now Lord Case — had explicitly advised Starmer to complete security vetting before any announcement was made. The Prime Minister pressed ahead regardless.
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