Overview
- MPs are pushing for a referral to the Commons Privileges Committee, with a Speaker’s statement expected Monday and a vote likely on Tuesday on whether to investigate if Keir Starmer misled Parliament.
- Downing Street says Starmer will stay on as Prime Minister throughout this Parliament and beyond, and the PM argues his critics are making political allegations.
- Sir Olly Robbins, sacked last week for not telling ministers that UK Security Vetting advised against clearance, told MPs there was “constant chasing” from No 10 over Mandelson’s vetting.
- Cabinet Office official Cat Little told the same committee the Foreign Office blocked access to vetting papers and even queried if a sitting peer needed full checks, a timeline that partly contradicts Robbins’s account.
- A dispute over wording has sharpened the claim that Starmer misled MPs, with critics noting Robbins said his decision was independent of “that pressure” rather than independent of “any pressure,” which is what Starmer said in the Commons.