Crisis-hit Starmer WILL face Commons sleaze vote over Mandelson row after ruling from Speaker… as poll shows just 10% think he is a ‘good’ PM

Keir Starmer faces another brutal battle for survival after the Speaker of the House of Commons decided he must face a shoddy vote.

Lindsay Hoyle has launched a debate on whether Sir Keir should be referred to the privileges committee for misleading Parliament about the Mandelson scandal.

Tomorrow’s showdown means Labor MPs will have to decide whether to rally behind the faltering leader. If the motion is accepted, a formal investigation will be launched.

It will begin just hours after Sir Keir’s former private secretary Morgan McSweeney and the former head of the Foreign Office presented explosive evidence about Mandelson’s appointment.

The government was pushing for Parliament to be prorogued on Wednesday morning, which would allow Sir Keir to avoid PMQs.

However, this is no longer possible as the legislation must be completed before the end of the session.

Downing Street mobilizes the Prime Minister’s few remaining allies; Labor veterans Alan Johnson and David Blunkett brand the concession motion a ‘naked political stunt’.

But the fiery mood in the party is intensifying as next week’s disastrous local elections approach. There are claims that Andy Burnham offered Angela Rayner a Blair-Brown-style deal and appointed her as his deputy if Sir Keir took over.

Sir Keir is trying to move on from the long-running row over the appointment of Mandelson (pictured) as US ambassador

The Speaker told the House that ‘many’ MPs had requested debate and that he had no view on whether a formal referral would take place.

Only 10 per cent of Brits believe Sir Keir is a good Prime Minister, YouGov poll finds

If the results are as bad as many fear, Labor MPs are bracing for a moment when the prime minister will face maximum political danger.

Sir Keir tried to get back on track with his speech at the Usdaw conference this morning.

Laying out a list of left-wing achievements, the Prime Minister said: ‘For you, and for every single person in this country, the law of the land so that you can finally enjoy the protections you deserve in the workplace: sick pay from day one; paternity leave from day one; fire and rehire – scrapped; protection for whistleblowers; no more sexual harassment silence orders; no more exploitative zero hours contracts; stronger collective consultation rights and I know how important this is for store workers.

‘And at the core of it all is a decent living wage, a fair day’s wage for a fair day’s work, which is the embodiment of the simple demand that has always driven the labor movement. This is what we deliver together.’

Sir Keir told union activists he would ‘always fight for working people because I know exactly whose side I’m on’.

‘Let me tell you about another worker, a caregiver; “He works long hours for low wages every year,” he said.

‘She was a care worker working 14-hour shifts and often overnight during the pandemic. And during the pandemic, some care workers had no sick pay.

‘So if they got sick they had to stay at home and never get paid. During the pandemic, we were all applauding them and understanding what they did for our country.

‘Yes delegates, that maintenance worker is my sister. And every day I ask myself: Is Britain working for him?

‘Is England working for people like my late brother? I’ve had a life touched by opportunities. I grew up working class and was lucky. But my brother Nick had trouble learning and spent his entire adult life moving from one job to another. Does Britain work for people like him?’

Mr McSweeney, who resigned in February, will be grilled by the foreign affairs committee about his role in Mandelson’s appointment.

MPs will also hear from Sir Philip Barton, who was head of the Foreign Office before Olly Robbins and was briefly sacked last week after failing to tell Sir Keir that he had checked the security investigation that flagged Mandelson as a criminal.

Foreign Office official Ian Collard, who Sir Olly said briefed him on the review’s findings, will also give written evidence.

The Prime Minister said last week that allegations that he had misled Parliament had been refuted by Sir Olly’s evidence.

But the Conservative Party has called for Sir Keir to face Parliament’s Privileges Committee, the same body investigating Boris Johnson over the Covid ‘Partygate’ incident.

It will be up to the Speaker of the House of Commons, Sir Lindsay Hoyle, to decide whether to allow a vote, which could take place tomorrow.

It could also derail plans to tidy up a raft of legislation ahead of Parliament’s prelims – which No10 had hoped would happen before PMQs are held on Wednesday.

Yesterday, Cabinet minister Darren Jones accused the Conservatives of ‘using tactics’ ahead of local elections on May 7.

The clashes will take place tomorrow, when Sir Keir’s former chief of staff Morgan McSweeney gives potentially explosive evidence about Mandelson’s appointment.

There are claims that Andy Burnham proposed a Blair-Brown-style deal to Angela Rayner (pictured) and appointed her as his deputy if Sir Keir takes over.

Mr Johnson and Lord Blunkett issued a joint statement ahead of the election describing the move as a ‘naked political stunt with no substance’.

They told the watchdog that a referral would be a waste of public money and that comparisons with Mr Johnson were ‘ridiculous’.

‘When Parliament referred this matter to the Privileges Committee, a police investigation directly disproved his categorical statements that he knew nothing about breaches of lockdown rules, including parties in Downing Street, and so he had a case to answer for knowingly misleading the House of Commons,’ they said.