Starmer 'could face sleaze probe' over Mandelson vetting row as Cabinet turns on Prime Minister

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Opposition parties are reportedly urging Commons Speaker Sir Lindsay Hoyle to launch an ethics investigation into the Prime Minister.

Conservative leader Kemi Badenoch is said to be pushing for Parliament's Privileges Committee to probe Sir Keir's statements to the House.

The fearsome body was responsible for ending Boris Johnson's political career after determining that he had lied to the Commons over the Partygate scandal.

Mrs Badenoch reportedly believes that the Prime Minister misled the Commons when he insisted that "due process" had been followed in Mandelson's appointment to the Washington posting in 2024.

She is said to believe that this is contradicted by the fact that then-Cabinet Secretary, Simon Case, told Starmer to complete security vetting before announcing Mandelson had been given the job.

Sir Keir did not take his advice.

Addressing the Commons during Prime Minister's Questions on Wednesday, Sir Keir Starmer insisted "full due process was followed" but added that the appointment of Mandelson was "a mistake, it was my mistake".

But Kemi Badenoch said she "didn’t know what planet" the PM was on and that someone with ‘known links to the Kremlin’ should never have been appointed to the role.

Opposition parties told the Times that the Speaker was cautious about calling a vote into whether to refer Starmer to the Privileges Committee without support from Labour MPs.

For Starmer to be referred, a motion must pass through the Commons.

The revelation comes as cabinet allies and Labour heavyweights were seen to increase pressure on Starmer after the Foreign Office's former top civil servant, Sir Olly Robbins, was sacked last week over the department's vetting of Mandelson and the decision to overlook recommendations not to clear him for duty.

"What I set out to the House on Monday is that Foreign Office officials granted security clearance to Mandelson against the recommendation of UK Security Vetting," Starmer said, addressing MPs.

"Yesterday, Olly Robbins was asked if he shared that decision with me, No 10, or any other ministers. He gave a clear answer - no.

"That puts to bed all the allegations levelled at me by those opposite."

Jonathan Brash, the Member of Parliament for Hartlepool, became the first Labour MP to publicly call for Starmer to resign over the Mandelson scandal on Wednesday.

He said: “I am completely fed up to the back teeth with the psychodrama in Westminster, the own goals that are coming from the heart of this government."

Cabinet ministers, including Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood, Chancellor Rachel Reeves, and Deputy Prime Minister David Lammy, all raised concerns about how No.10 has responded to the scandal at a meeting on Tuesday.

Starmer is facing another potentially bruising day as his former Chief of Staff, Morgan McSweeney, is set to appear before the Foreign Affairs Committee on the row.

Dame Emily Thornberry, a Labour MP and chair of the committee, highlighted claims this week that Mr McSweeney told Sir Phillip Barton, Sir Olly Robbins's predecessor, to “just f***ing approve [Mandelson’s appointment]”.

Sir Phillip is also set to appear before the committee in the coming days.

Mr McSweeney is understood to deny swearing at Barton but is said to have raised concerns about the delay to announcing the departure of Dame Karen Pierce, Mandelson's predecessor.

McSweeney, who is a protege of Mandelson, resigned his role earlier this year while taking responsibility for appointing the ambassador despite his well-known history with Jeffrey Epstein.

Dame Emily said of McSweeney: "Well, I think that in the end, the criticism of Keir is that he was hands-off and he let other people do this."And I think that there was an abuse of power from those who were given that power."

Sir Olly told the influential committee on Tuesday that Downing Street's insistence that Mandelson be appointed to the top diplomatic posting was the reason that the Foreign Office overruled the UK Security Vetting's concerns to grant him clearance.

He told a panel of MPs: “I have the complete confidence that the discussion we had and the decisions made independent of any pressure."

The PM was also seen to defend his position, rebuking suggestions he 'lied' about his knowledge of the vetting clearance failure and reiterated that he had apologised to victims of paedophile financier Jeffrey Epstein for Mandelson's appointment.

Pressure was seen to mount on the PM during the weekly Commons exchange, with the Green Party MP Dr Ellie Chowns accusing the PM of taking a "dismissive and extraordinarily incurious attitude to vetting".

She also accused Starmer of "throwing a civil servant under the bus to save his own skin" and urged the PM to step down.

The exchange also saw Badenoch highlight that Peter Mandelson was given access to highly sensitive briefings before he'd received security clearance.

Richard Foord, the Liberal Democrat MP for Honiton and Sidmouth, said: "Leaders can delegate responsibility, but we cannot delegate accountability."

In response, Starmer said: "I have set out in terms what I wasn't told in relation to this process."

"A UKSV (United Kingdom Security Vetting) recommendation with a double red flag should have been brought to my attention.

"It was a serious error of judgement that it wasn't, and anyone in my position would have taken exactly the decision that I took in relation to the permanent secretary."

It comes after Liz Truss spoke with LBC's Tom Swarbrick following Robbins's sacking, hitting out at "completely dysfunctional" civil service procedures that led to the vetting blunder.

Truss ultimately laid blame at the door of Labour, telling LBC that "Sir Keir Starmer has been hoisted on his own petard".

"I don’t have any sympathy on a personal level," she told LBC, adding that she didn't believe top civil servant Sir Olly Robbins should have been sacked for his role in the Foreign Office's failure to disclose details of Mandelson's vetting failure.