Starmer ‘close to tears’ in Commons as ‘true feelings’ laid bare by body language expert | Politics | News
Sir Keir Starmer was “on the verge of bursting into tears” and gave clear signs he was “losing his cool” as he was questioned by MPs about the appointment of Peter Mandelson as US ambassador, according to a body language expert. The Prime Minister accused former senior civil servant Sir Olly Robbins of deliberately keeping him in the dark after Mandelson failed to pass vetting checks before taking up the role. S.
Sir Keir told the House of Commons he would not have appointed Mandelson if he had known his colleague had failed checks and insisted there was no pressure from Downing Street to make the high-profile appointment. Expert Judi James said the Prime Minister’s body language during the two-hour questioning session “began to fall apart like ripe Stilton cheese”, with his “face turning red and his forehead wrinkled and lined”. He added that there were also a few moments where his voice “crackled a little”, indicating that he may have been “close to tears”.
Analyzing major political, royal and celebrity events, Ms James told the Express the overwhelming impression Sir Keir gave was that he “still hopes to stand tall until the end of the protracted attack from all sides of the House”.
He said his first speech was a “mild rage” rather than the “expected portrayal of anger”, and that he quickly lost his composure when “questions began pouring in from all sides”.
“The biggest ‘tell’ of loss of composure came from the immediate and progressively worsening use of oral fillers,” he added. “The ‘Ums’ and ‘Er’s increased, and so did the pauses given to him to think and regain his train of thought.
“During some pauses, we could see his eye direction becoming evasive as his blink rate became more erratic, implying that he was trying to keep his thoughts in the same logical order as his address but under the immense pressure of a verbal beating.”
The Prime Minister sacked Sir Olly from his role as a senior Foreign Office official after learning last week that Mandelson had been granted security clearance despite failing checks.
MPs will have the opportunity to further examine the government’s responsibility for the appointment during an emergency debate on Tuesday.
Conservative leader Kemi Badenoch, who applied for the debate, said: “This is a matter of national security because the Prime Minister has accepted that he has assigned a known serious security risk to our most sensitive diplomatic post.”
Sir Keir refused to mislead the House of Commons in the face of accusations that he lied to Parliament by not giving the full picture of how Mandelson was given enhanced review (DV) status.
He said it was “unforgivable” that the full information about the appointment had not been announced, adding that this “wasn’t an oversight” but “a deliberate decision was taken to hold that material from me” on repeated occasions by the Foreign Office.
