UK PM faces vote on Mandelson parliamentary probe
The UK parliament is to vote on a possible inquiry into whether Prime Minister Keir Starmer misled the House of Commons over the appointment of former US ambassador Peter Mandelson.
Such an investigation could have serious implications for Starmer’s future.
He has so far resisted pressure to resign over his decision to hire Mandelson, but his position is likely to become untenable if he is found to have knowingly misled parliament.
House of Commons Speaker Lindsay Hoyle said she had approved a request by opposition Conservative Party leader Kemi Badenoch for parliament to debate and vote on Tuesday on whether the Privileges Committee should examine the matter.
Mandelson was fired by Starmer last September after it was revealed that his relationship with US sex offender Jeffrey Epstein ran deeper than previously known.
This raised doubts about Starmer’s judgment in hiring her; made worse by the revelation that the vetting agency described the appointment as a borderline case and opposed granting permission; Foreign Ministry officials overturned this decision without notifying the prime minister.
Starmer’s Labor Party has a large majority in parliament, which could allow the government to instruct MPs to vote against launching an investigation.
On Monday, the government published a letter sent in September by former cabinet secretary Chris Wormald, which concluded that “appropriate processes were followed in both the appointment and withdrawal” of Mandelson as ambassador.
A spokesman for Starmer’s office described Badenoch’s vote push as a “desperate political stunt” ahead of local elections on May 7.
Hoyle said the decision to allow the vote should not be taken as an indication of whether Starmer had done anything wrong.
If the UK parliament votes in favor of an inquiry, the committee, made up of MPs from the three largest parties, will examine whether Starmer’s statements about Mandelson knowingly or unintentionally misled the House of Commons.
The focus of any such investigation is expected to center on Starmer’s statement that due process was followed in hiring Mandelson.
The committee previously found that former Conservative prime minister Boris Johnson knowingly misled parliament about holding unregulated parties during the Covid-19 pandemic.
Johnson had already resigned as prime minister when the report was published, but resigned from parliament altogether after seeing a draft copy of the findings.
