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Starmer and Badenoch clash over Olly Robbins’ Mandelson evidence – UK politics live | Politics
Starmer claims Robbins’s evidence confirmed he personally was not under any pressure to approve Mandelson’s vetting
Badenoch says Starmer is relying on advice he got after Mandelson was sacked, not before.
She says the appointment was a done deal. Robbins said the PM’s team showed a dismissive approach to vetting. This was not proper process. She asks why due process was not followed.
Starmer says Robbins was clear that he was not under pressure personally in terms of his judgment.
He says Robbins also said that the decisions he took were independent of any pressure.
And Robbins said no one told him that vetting could be ignored.
Starmer claims Robbins said “no pressure” whatsoever was placed on him in this case.
Key events
Sarah Pochin (Reform UK) says Pakistani grooming gangs are still attacking girls. She says Starmer should be focusing on this instead of giving jobs to the friends of paedophiles.
Starmer says he spent many years prosecuting paedophiles, and that he does not need lectures from Pochin on this.
Rachael Maskell (Lab) asks about a York hospital that was closed in 2015. She says the site was given to the city in the 18th century, but that it is now being sold for luxury housing. She says it should be used for the benefit of the city.
Starmer says ministers will work with the council on a solution that will benefit the city.
Tessa Munt (Lib Dem) asks about the chinook crash on the Mull of Kintyre in 1994. Relatives of those killed were told they would get an explanation. The MoD is failing to give them that, she says. She says they are not asking for an inquiry – just an explanation as to why their loved ones were placed on a helicotper that was not fit to fly.
Starmer says he will ensure that the MoD look at this again, and that a proper meeting with families take place.
Carla Lockhart (DUP) asks about a boy in her constituency who died from MLD. She says this is a terrible condition. But it can be treated, and it can be picked up by screening. She says MLD has been excluded from the pin-prick screening for children. She asks for this to change.
Starmer says he will ensure this matter gets looked at again.
Lincoln Jopp (Con) says last week a man was approach in his constituency after approaching children from a primary school. He was subsequently detained under the Mental Health Act. He says the man was living in Home Office accommodation near the school. Who put him there?
Starmer says this is a live case. But he says councils are given the chance to object to decisions about where people in Home Office accommodation go.
Richard Foord (Lib Dem) says Lord Carrington resigned as foreign secretary over the Falkland Islands, even though he was not personally to blame. He accepted ministerial responsibility. Does Starmer also believe in that?
Starmer repeats the point about how he should have been told about the UKSV Mandelson recommendation.
Ben Obese-Jecty (Con) asks when Jonathan Powell was appointed envoy for the Chagos Islands, and what security clearance he got.
Starmer does not answer the question, but says Powell is doing an excellent job and is respected around the world.
Ellie Chowns (Green) accuses Starmer of throwing Olly Robbins under a bus to save his skin. She says he should resign.
Starmer says he should have been told the UK Security Vetting said Mandelson’s clearance should be denied.
Starmer calls Lib Dem claim about Treasury getting windfall from higher oil prices ‘politically misleading and economically illiterate’
Ed Davey, the Lib Dem leader, says, when he was asked on Monday if he had considered other political diplomatic appointments, he did not answer. He says the last 24 hours have jogged his memory. He asks if Starmer knew personally about the proposed appointment of Matthew Doyle.
Starmer says nothing came of that.
Davey asks if the government will cut rail and bus fares, and slash petrol prices, to help people with higher energy prices, using the windfall the Treasury has had from higher fuel prices. (Because prices are up, VAT revenue is up too.)
Starmer says the idea that the Treasury is getting a windfall from the Iran war is “politically misleading and economically illiterate”.
Badenoch says due process was not followed. She says Starmer misled MPs when he claimed it had been. She says he should go.
Starmer says he should have been told that the vetting process said Mandleson’s clearance should be denied. He goes on:
[Badenoch] claimed on Friday that Mandelson could not have been cleared against security advice. She was wrong about that.
She said that ministers must have been told. She was wrong about that.
She claimed there was deliberate dishonesty. She was wrong about that.
Wrong, wrong, wrong. She rushed to judgment, as she always did.
And he compares that to Badenoch’s stance on the Iran war.