Keir Starmer is preparing to order his MPs to vote down a fresh inquiry into his appointment of Peter Mandelson as the UK ambassador to Washington.
Commons Speaker Sir Lindsay Hoyle is expected to allow a vote on whether the matter should be referred to the Privileges Committee – the panel that investigated former prime minister Boris Johnson over the scandal that cost him his job in 2022.
Ministers are against the move while another committee of parliament is examining the issues behind the vetting of the prime minister's choice of envoy. Mr Starmer claims evidence to the Foreign Affairs Committee last week showed he had not lied to MPs about the process.
Environment Secretary Emma Reynolds accused the opposition of playing “silly political games”. Ms Reynolds told Sky News: “Ten days ago, we had Kemi Badenoch and other members of the opposition saying that the Prime Minister deliberately misled Parliament.
“He didn’t, and that was categorically proven last week, and they’ve accepted that. He has not lied to Parliament. So I do think that the opposition – guess what, 10 days out from local elections and important elections in Scotland and Wales – are playing silly political games when we should be talking about the big issues at stake in the country here.”
Campaigning for May’s elections for English councils and the Scottish and Welsh parliaments has taken place in the shadow of the fallout from the Mandelson scandal. The ex-Labour cabinet minister was close to the paedophile Jeffrey Epstein.
Former Starmer chief of staff Morgan McSweeney is due to appear before the MPs on Tuesday, as is the senior diplomat he allegedly ordered to get the Mandelson appointment done.
The vetting findings deemed Lord Mandelson a borderline case and leaned towards recommending that clearance be denied. Foreign Office official Ian Collard, who was the gatekeeper of clearance for the department, will give written evidence.
Mr Starmer has faced calls to resign, but the head of the committee hearing senior testimony said calls for a second inquiry are a political tactic.
Dame Emily Thornberry, Labour chairwoman of the Commons Foreign Affairs Committee, told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme that it was “plain as the nose on my face” that the move was timed to cause damage ahead of the May elections – but that an investigation may be required “at some point in the future”.
She said: “I think this is a serious and important issue. Investigations are happening at the moment."
