Two MPs were ejected from the House of Commons on Monday after accusing Sir Keir Starmer of lying over the appointment of Lord Peter Mandelson as US ambassador. Reform UK’s Lee Anderson and Your Party’s Zarah Sultana were both ordered to leave by the Speaker for breaching parliamentary rules that prohibit MPs from accusing each other of deliberate deception.
Mr Anderson, MP for Ashfield, refused to withdraw his claim that the prime minister had “been lying” throughout the scandal. When the Speaker, Sir Lindsay Hoyle, intervened, Mr Anderson replied: “I have the greatest respect for you and your office, but I will not withdraw it. That man couldn’t lie straight in bed.” He then complied with the order to leave.
Ms Sultana, a former Labour MP who co-founded Your Party in July last year, went further by branding Sir Keir a “bare-faced liar” and accusing him of “gaslighting the nation”. She initially refused the Speaker’s offer to leave, leading to her being “named” — a procedure that can result in suspension. The last MPs to be named and suspended were Alba Party MPs Neale Hanvey and Kenny MacAskill in July 2022.
The controversy centres on Lord Mandelson’s appointment, which was confirmed despite him failing a security vetting process. Sir Keir told MPs it was “staggering” that he was not informed of the failed vetting and said parliament should have known about it “a long time ago”. He confirmed that Foreign Office officials had approved Lord Mandelson’s developed vetting status, enabling him to see secret information, despite security experts recommending against it.
Sir Keir said he would not have proceeded with the appointment if he had known UK Security Vetting had declined to approve the peer. He effectively dismissed the Foreign Office’s top civil servant, Sir Olly Robbins, after discovering last week that the vetting status had been granted despite the failed check. However, the prime minister accepted personal responsibility for the ultimate decision to appoint Lord Mandelson, who was sacked in September last year over his ties to disgraced financier Jeffrey Epstein.
