“Nothing will distract me from delivering for our country,” Keir Starmer told MPs during PMQ this afternoon. There is a strong argument that the Mandelson affair – which has once again consumed Westminster this week – has done just that. Labor MPs, facing a close set of local elections, are frustrated that yet another week has been dominated by new revelations about Peter Mandelson’s ill-fated appointment as US ambassador in 2024. Today, as during Starmer’s Commons statement on Monday, the Labor benches were full of grim faces.
Despite his sacking on Thursday night, during this week’s meeting, Starmer was keen to use evidence given by former Foreign Office chief Oliver Robbins in his appearance at the select committee yesterday. Of Robbins’ confirmation that he did not share that Mandelson had in fact not passed the vetting with the Prime Minister, Starmer said confidently: “That puts to bed all the allegations leveled against me by the opposition of dishonesty.”
Kemi Badenoch, also armed with Robbins’ evidence, reacted with indignation. “He continues to rely on Sir Olly Robbins,” she said, “a man he sacked.” Starmer’s defense – that it was a “serious error of judgement” that he was not told the outcome of Mandelson’s vetting – is weakened by the timing of the events. As Robbins noted yesterday – and Badenoch reiterated – Mandelson’s vetting was only completed after his appointment as ambassador had been announced, approved by the King and agreed by the US in time for Donald Trump’s inauguration. “Mandelson was a done deal,” she said, “it was clearly not due process.” Starmer fired back. “Oliver Robbins could not have been more clear,” he told MPs, that he “did not personally feel pressured”.
Perhaps the most surprising revelation to come out of Robbins’ Commons grilling was that Starmer’s private office was considering installing Matthew Doyle – the Prime Minister’s former communications director – in an ambassadorial role. During the hearing, Starmer was asked about the revelation twice, and both times failed to deny that he knew such a meeting was taking place. “Matthew Doyle has worked for many years in the public service,” said Starmer, “when people leave roles in any organisation, there are often conversations about other roles they might want to apply for.” He added: “But nothing came of it.”
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This latest revelation has certainly not gone down well with members of the Parliamentary Labor Party. As one told me yesterday, this only reinforces the claims that there was a boy’s club in Downing Street. Badenoch tried to play with this charge. “He promised (Labour MPs) honesty. What he has given them is friendship and an old boys’ club,” she said.
During this afternoon’s outing, Starmer was asked to resign not once, but twice. Wrapping up her six questions, Badenoch approached the parliamentary convention in a sideways attempt to accuse the prime minister of unintentionally misleading the House. “Will the prime minister take responsibility and go?” she flourished. But Starmer would not budge. A little later, Ellie Chowns, the parliamentary leader of the Green Party had another move. Accusing Starmer of appointing Mandelson in a “desperate and doomed attempt to pander to Donald Trump”, Chowns asked the Prime Minister if he would resign. Starmer deleted it.
Today may have been the final PMQs before the local elections (there are speculations that the Parliament will be adjourned on Tuesday ahead of the upcoming King’s Speech on 13 May). Labor MPs, frustrated that so much of the government’s energy in the run-up to May 7 was spent cleaning up the Mandelson mess, are beginning to tire of the Prime Minister. Although the points scored by Badenoch each week remain important, Starmer’s fate rests with his MPs. Observing them in the corridors of the House of Commons and on the Labor benches, it is fair to say that many of them are beginning to lose their patience.
(Further reading: Keir Starmer is all alone)
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