Keir Starmer has seen off a major Labour rebellion over a bid to force a parliamentary investigation into his appointment of Peter Mandelson as UK ambassador to the US. Downing Street deployed its full weight to block a Conservative motion for a referral to the privileges committee, winning the vote 335 to 223. However, 15 Labour MPs rebelled, and up to 53 did not vote, with some warning the prime minister is running out of political capital.
One minister said Starmer is in the “last-chance saloon”, while another added: “Keir only has so much credit in the bank with the backbenches now, so he needs to spend it wisely.” Rebel MP Emma Lewell criticised the decision to whip Labour MPs, saying it “has played into the terrible narrative that there is something to hide”.
In further damaging disclosures, it emerged that Christian Turner, the UK’s new ambassador to the US, had told students in February that Starmer was “on the ropes” and that his future looked “quite touch and go”. Turner suggested that if Labour performs badly in upcoming elections, the party could remove Starmer.
Starmer’s former chief of staff, Morgan McSweeney, admitted to MPs that Foreign Office officials came under intense pressure to expedite Mandelson’s posting, but denied they were asked to “skip steps” in security vetting. He said learning the extent of Mandelson’s links with Jeffrey Epstein was like a “knife through my soul”, and that Starmer would not have gone ahead had he known the full truth.
