Labour MPs say they will vote down plan to limit Mandelson disclosures | Peter Mandelson
Labor MPs have warned they will reject a change of government to limit revelations about Peter Mandelson’s appointment as ambassador; government sources said they may have to amend their own changes.
Former deputy chancellor Angela Rayner and Treasury select committee chair Meg Hillier publicly demanded the government allow the intelligence and security committee to review the documents before they are made public.
MPs said they believed the anger within the parliamentary party was so great that it posed a serious threat to Starmer’s premiership. “These are Boris and Chris Pincher on steroids,” a senior Labor Party figure said, referring to the scandal that brought down Boris Johnson.
The Conservatives forced a vote on the release of the documents and the government said it would release the review process into Mandelson’s appointment; They claimed this would show she was lying about her relationship with disgraced financier Jeffery Epstein.
But the government’s change means the cabinet secretary can refuse to disclose documents that harm national security or international relations; This is an exemption many MPs told the Guardian believed was too broad.
Instead, Rayner and Hillier said the government should allow the select committee to oversee what is announced.
Questioned repeatedly by the Prime Minister, Starmer said Mandelson “betrayed our country” in his dealings with the convicted felon of child sexual assault. The Metropolitan Police has launched an investigation into whether there was misconduct in a public office over sensitive government documents apparently passed from Mandelson to Epstein.
“He repeatedly lied to my team when asked about his relationship with Epstein before and during his tenure as ambassador,” the Prime Minister said. “I regret appointing him. If I had known then what I know now, he would never have been anywhere near the government.
“I want to make sure this body has seen all the documents so it can see for itself the extent to which Mandelson misrepresented the extent of his relationship with Epstein and the extent to which he lied throughout the process, including during his due diligence,” Starmer said.
In the Conservative-led debate, Rayner said the government needed to go further. “Given the public disgust, the sickening behavior of Peter Mandelson and the importance of transparency… should we ensure that the ISC does not currently have the same role? [as in relation to a previous humble address] “To preserve public confidence in the process?” he said.
Cabinet Minister Nick Thomas-Symonds said he would consider the changes. “I hear what the house is saying and I will remove that point,” he said.
Insiders say ministers are keen to rewrite the government’s amendment and give the intelligence and security committee a role in deciding what to publish.
MPs from across the House used the debate to call for the ISC to be given responsibility for these decisions rather than the cabinet secretary.
Officials say the prime minister is willing to rewrite the amendment but wants to ensure the process does not become a “party political” process that the Conservatives use to further damage the government.
The chairman of the ISC is Kevan Jones, a Labor member and former defense minister. The committee is made up of MPs and colleagues from different parties, with Labor best represented.
