UK cabinet ministers emerged on Sunday to back Keir Starmer as calls for the prime minister to resign over the Peter Mandelson affair continue to grow.
Speaking on behalf of the government, technology secretary Liz Kendall told Sky News she supported Starmer “100 per cent ” even after news last week that security officials had raised concerns about Mandelson’s appointment as ambassador to the US. Both Kendall and deputy prime minister David Lammy insisted the prime minister would have blocked the appointment had he known Mandelson had failed security vetting.
The comments by Kendall and Lammy over the weekend follow days of silence from key cabinet ministers, as the revelations prompted calls from the opposition for Starmer to resign.
Starmer, who has blamed the UK foreign office’s top civil servant, Olly Robbins, for approving the appointment without informing Downing Street of the failed vetting, is due to discuss the matter in parliament on Monday – a crucial moment that could determine whether the prime minister hangs on to his job.
READ MORE
Kendall said it was wrong for Robbins not to inform the prime minister or the foreign secretary that vetting had advised against the appointment.
Starmer is “a man of integrity”, Kendall said. “He is a man on the big decisions facing the country who makes the right calls.”
Echoing those remarks, Lammy said it was “inexplicable” Robbins had failed to inform Starmer of the facts.
“I have absolutely no doubt at all, knowing the PM as I do, that had he known that Peter Mandelson had not passed the vetting, he would never, ever have appointed him ambassador,” Lammy, who was foreign secretary at the time, said.
Allies of Robbins have told British media that the former civil servant was being scapegoated. Robbins is expected to appear before the foreign affairs select committee on Tuesday, where he will outline measures put in place to mitigate the risks related to Mandelson.
Starmer’s opponents have raced to criticise the prime minister, accusing him of misleading parliament.
“He is taking the public for fools,” Kemi Badenoch, leader of the Conservatives, said on Friday.
“We know No 10 was told that Mandelson had failed his vetting because journalists told them in September last year. This leaves us with two possibilities: either the prime minister is lying or he is so incompetent that he is unfit to run the country.
“Either way his position is untenable.”
Ed Davey, who heads the Liberal Democrats, also said Starmer had shown “catastrophic misjudgement and that’s why we have said he needs to go”.
Cracks are beginning to emerge within Labour as well, with Lord Glasman becoming the most senior party figure to call on Starmer to resign, the Telegraph newspaper reported.
The outcry over the Mandelson appointment is leaving Starmer in a vulnerable position, weeks before a set of local elections on May 7th that opinion polls suggest will see Labour lose heavily. That could open Starmer up to leadership challenges, with the Telegraph reporting that Manchester mayor Andy Burnham and former deputy prime minister Angela Rayner held a “secret meeting” last Friday.
Meanwhile, SNP Westminster leader Stephen Flynn has called for the prime minister to resign over his “shameful role” in the appointment of Mandelson. Flynn has urged Scots to vote SNP to “show Keir Starmer the door” after all “the lies and broken promises”.
He said: “It’s clear Keir Starmer has no intention of doing the honourable thing and resigning over his shameful role in the Peter Mandelson scandal – but voters in Scotland can show him the door by voting SNP on May 7th. – Bloomberg, PA
