Keir Starmer has narrowly avoided a major rebellion by Labour MPs over his appointment of Peter Mandelson as ambassador to the United States. Downing Street deployed its full weight to block a parliamentary inquiry into the scandal, but the prime minister has been warned he is running out of political capital with his own party.
The government won a vote on whether to refer the matter to the privileges committee by 335 votes to 223, a majority of 112. However, 15 Labour backbenchers supported the motion, mainly from the left of the party, and up to 53 MPs did not vote. One rebel, Emma Lewell, criticised the decision to whip Labour MPs, saying it '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 described Starmer as 'on the ropes' over the scandal. He told students in February that Starmer's future looked 'quite touch and go' but that he was a 'stubborn guy' unlikely to quit. Turner suggested that poor election results for Labour in May could lead to the party removing 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. McSweeney 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 with the appointment had he known the full truth.
