When will Keir Starmer face MPs over Mandelson?
What might the Commons ask the prime minister about his appointment of Peter Mandelson as US ambassador, despite the politician's links to Jeffrey Epstein being known to some inside Labour
Downing Street refused to say whether it was a “mistake” for Sir Keir Starmer to ignore advice from his cabinet secretary before appointing Peter Mandelson as US ambassador last year.
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The prime minister is set to face questions from MPs as he battles to save his job after admitting an “unforgivable” error in how aides did not inform him of the peer's links to Jeffrey Epstein.
Deputy PM David Lammy has said that Sir Keir would have blocked the appointment had he known that his pick for ambassador had long associations with the sex offender, which were subsequently revealed in the Epstein Files.
Lord Mandelson resigned from Labour in February.
Sir Keir fired the Foreign Office’s top official, Sir Olly Robbins, last week after it emerged Lord Mandelson had been given developed vetting (DV) status despite failing checks carried out by the agency responsible for assessing security clearances.
Asked whether it had been a mistake to not follow the advice from Lord Simon Case, Sir Keir's spokesman said: “Well you’ve heard since this case, I think the Chief Secretary to the PM announced this as part of a formal review of the national security system, we’ve changed the process by which appointments can be made ahead of vetting.”
Pressed on why the Prime Minister had ignored this advice, he said external appointments to the civil service were normally “subject to obtaining security clearance”.
Kemi Badenoch is among those who will be looking to capitalise on the situation by grilling Sir Keir over how much he knew.
The Conservative leader said: “Somebody who was a national security risk – and this had been flagged – was put into the most senior and sensitive diplomatic post, where all sorts of information, intelligence, which I would not have seen as a secretary of state, would have come across his desk. A national security issue."
When will Sir Keir Starmer face questions from MPs?
Sir Keir Starmer will face questions from 2.30pm on Monday, April 20, as part of the oral questions part of the House of Commons's schedule.
Parliament's website has listed the part of proceeding as a ministerial statement into security vetting.
The PM will face accusations he misled Parliament – potentially a resignation matter – Tory leader Ms Badenoch has claimed Sir Keir is “either lying or he’s incompetent”.
Asked if he would apologise to MPs on Monday, the Prime Minister said: “I’m going to set out in terms what happened.
“But I shall be making it absolutely crystal clear, as I have done a number of times, and I don’t think anybody is disputing this, that I was not told that Peter Mandelson had failed his security vetting, and I should have been told.”
He will say the information should have been provided to both him and MPs a long time ago.