Starmer latest: PM could bring Rayner back into Cabinet to avoid Labour leadership challenge

The housing secretary refused to say whether MPs who rebelled in Tuesday’s Commons vote would lose the whip or whether he would support the move, insisting the government would not be “distracted” by back-labor advocates who “aren’t playing tag team with the rest of us”.

Steve Reed told Sky News: “You’ve got a bunch of the usual suspects who will vote against the Government time and time again. “They won’t distract us.

“You know, coming this Friday are tenants’ rights reforms that give tenants, the people who rent their homes, the biggest increase in protections and rights that we’ve had in a generation.

“That’s what voters want us to focus on, not a bunch of people not playing tag team with the rest of us.

“99 percent of us are united with the Prime Minister, so we can focus on the important issues.”

Sir Keir Starmer has reportedly offered Rayner a place in the Cabinet as part of the planned reshuffle following expectedly disastrous local election results.

What might have previously been seen as a gamble (the former deputy Prime Minister was for a time seen as something of a liability as a result of his checkered tax affairs) is now a last-ditch attempt for the beleaguered prime minister to save himself at a moment of maximum danger.

Rayner is perceived as one of the main options to replace Starmer, alongside Wes Streeting (and perhaps even Ed Miliband). He is deeply respected within the Labor Party, especially among the left-wing MPs who have plagued Starmer. If the Prime Minister can persuade his former deputy to return to the Cabinet, it would not only strengthen his position on the left but also signal Rayner’s vote of confidence and loyalty in Starmer’s embattled government.

But it will be difficult to convince him to return to what is widely seen as a sinking ship. And even if he succeeds in doing so, the ship may still continue to sink.

There were 15 Labor MPs who opposed the three-row whip and voted for the Prime Minister to be investigated by the Privileges Committee.

South Shields MP Emma Lewell was among the MPs who disobeyed orders rejecting a motion to refer Sir Keir to the Privileges Committee.

The Yes lobby was joined by party colleagues Kate Osborne (Jarrow and Gateshead East), Cat Smith (Lancaster and Wyre), Luke Myer (Middlesbrough South and East Cleveland), Grahame Morris (Easington) and Mary Kelly Foy (Durham City).

But Ms Smith also voted against the motion, which may mean she has formally abstained.

Apsana Begum (Poplar and Limehouse), Richard Burgon (Leeds East), Ian Byrne (Liverpool West Derby), Imran Hussain (Bradford East), Brian Leishman (Alloa and Grangemouth), Rebecca Long Bailey (Salford), Andy McDonald (Middlesbrough and Thornby East), John McDonnell (Hayes and Harlington) and Nadia Whittome (Nottingham East) voted in support of the move.

Karl Turner (Kingston upon Hull East), who recently lost his Labor whip, also voted in favor of the motion.

The majority of MPs voted against the motion by 335 to 223, meaning the government won with a majority of 112 votes.

Labor MPs will “regret the day” they voted against sending Sir Keir Starmer to the Privileges Committee, Kemi Badenoch said.

The Conservative leader said: “To save his own life, Keir Starmer threatened MPs with the loss of their jobs unless they helped cover up his misleading statements to Parliament. It is a disgrace that 333 Labor MPs chose to be complicit in this cover-up.

“It is remarkable that the Prime Minister’s Chief Secretary did not repeat his boss’s claim that there was ‘no pressure’ from No 10 to appoint Peter Mandelson.

“This is a government that is falling apart. They are more concerned with their own survival than the crisis affecting hard-working families.

“Labour MPs will rue the day they voted against this motion because that is the day they saw that people believed there were one rule for Labor and another for everyone else.”

Downing Street accused the Conservatives of resorting to a “desperate political stunt” after MPs rejected a bid to launch an inquiry into whether Sir Keir Starmer misled the House of Commons about the appointment of Lord Peter Mandelson.

A spokesman for Number 10 said: “The Labor Government is delivering for Britain, including lowering energy bills, shortening hospital waiting lists and lifting half a million children out of poverty.

“The Conservative Party resorted to this desperate political ploy in the week before the May election because they had no answers on the cost of living or the NHS.

“We will continue to deal with the two parliamentary processes regarding the appointment of Peter Mandelson with full transparency.”

Parliament’s Intelligence and Security Committee (ISC) has completed a review of the Government’s proposed redactions to documents relating to the appointment of Lord Peter Mandelson as ambassador to the US before they are published.

Lord Beamish, chairman of the committee, said in a statement that the ISC had “reviewed all documents referred to it by the Government, including those submitted to it just 24 hours earlier, and reached a decision on the redactions the Government had requested on the grounds that the information was prejudicial to UK national security or international relations”.

He added that some documents relating to allegations of public misconduct against Lord Mandelson had not yet been provided “due to the ongoing investigation by the Metropolitan Police”.

Lord Beamish said the Government could still appeal any decision on corrections and this would be considered at a committee hearing after the opening of Parliament next month.

He added: “There will be no further process and the Government must then release the documents as directed by the committee.

“The Committee will continue to inform Parliament about its work to fulfill the responsibilities assigned to it by Parliament under the Humble Speech.

“The Committee has made extraordinary efforts not to delay the release of the documents and we wish to make clear that any delay in the Government’s response to the Humble Speech is in no way due to the Committee’s role in the process.”

Sir Keir Starmer has come clean about the Peter Mandelson review scandal after his former political aide took the blame for his appointment on another turbulent day in parliament.

With a 112-vote majority of 335 to 223, Labor used its majority to block the powerful Commons Privileges Committee’s “dirt” inquiry into whether the prime minister misled parliament. It means Sir Keir is over the worst of a scandal that has shaken the foundations of his premiership.