Embattled Keir Starmer could face a Parliamentary sleaze inquiry into claims he lied to MPs over the Peter Mandelson scandal. In a Commons showdown tomorrow, MPs will vote on whether the Prime Minister should be referred to the Privileges Committee to decide if he misled the House over the peer’s appointment to the plum US ambassador job.
Commons Speaker Sir Lindsay Hoyle granted the crunch debate following requests from Tory leader Kemi Badenoch and other senior MPs. Sir Keir has been accused of misleading MPs by saying that “full due process” was followed after it emerged Lord Mandelson was handed the top Washington role despite failing security checks.
Mrs Badenoch said: “The Prime Minister misled the House of Commons repeatedly.
“He appointed a national security risk and friend of a convicted paedophile to be our ambassador in Washington, our most sensitive diplomatic post.
“He pretended that full due process was followed for this appointment. It was not.
“He has blamed the appointment on officials when the blame can only be placed at his own door.”
The committee was responsible for Boris Johnson‘s downfall after it investigated him for misleading the Commons over the Partygate saga.
Cabinet minister Emma Reynolds accused the Tories of playing “silly political games” over the issue.
She told Sky News: “Ten days ago, we had Kemi Badenoch and other members of the opposition saying that the Prime Minister deliberately misled Parliament.
“He didn’t, and that was categorically proven last week, and they’ve accepted that. He has not lied to Parliament.
“So I do think that the opposition – guess what, 10 days out from local elections and important elections in Scotland and Wales – are playing silly political games when we should be talking about the big issues at stake in the country here.”
Downing Street claimed the timing was driven by next week’s local elections, which are expected to be a bloodbath for Labour.
A No 10 spokesman said: “The Government is engaging with the two parliamentary processes that are already running on Peter Mandelson’s appointment with full transparency.
“This is a desperate political stunt by the Conservative Party the week before the May elections because they have no answers on the cost of living or the NHS. Their claims have no substance.”