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Starmer says it ‘beggars belief’ he wasn’t told about Mandelson vetting failure as he faces Commons – UK politics live | Politics

Published

4 months ago

April 20, 2026

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MPs jeer as Starmer says it is ‘incredible’ he was not told full story about Mandelson’s vetting

Starmer went on:

Many members across the House will find these facts to be incredible.

That generated lots of ironic jeering from opposition MPs.

Starmer went on:

I can only say they [the MPs jeering] right. It beggars belief that throughout the whole timeline of events, officials in the Foreign Office saw fit to withhold this information from the most senior ministers in our system, in government.

That is not how the vast majority of people in this country expect politics, government or accountability to work. And I do not think it’s how most public servants think it should work either.

I work with hundreds of civil servants, thousands all of whom act with the utmost integrity, dedication and pride to serve this country, including officials from the Foreign Office who, as we speak, are doing a phenomenal job representing our national interest in a dangerous world in Ukraine, in the Middle East and all around the world.

This is not about them, but yet it is surely beyond doubt that the recommendation from UKSV that Peter Mandelson should be denied development and clearance was information that could and should have been shared with me on repeated occasions, and therefore should have been available to this House and ultimately to the British people.

Key events

David Davis, the former Tory cabinet minister, asked why Starmer did not follow Simon Case’s recommendation about ensuring security vetting took place before the appointment was confirmed. (See 12.34pm.)

Starmer said he thought Mandelson’s appointment was subject to security vetting being confirmed. He was told that was the standard process.

Reform UK MP Lee Anderson ordered to leave Commons chamber after saying Starmer’s ‘been lying’

Lee Anderson, the Reform UK, told Starmer that no one believed him, not the public, nor opposition MPs, nor Labour MPs. “Does the prime minister agree with me he’s been lying?”

Lindsay Hoyle, the speaker, told Anderson he would have to withdraw that. Parliamentary rules do not allow MPs to call each other liars.

Anderson said he wouldn’t. He went on:

I will not withdraw. That man couldn’t lie straight in bed.

Hoyle told Anderson to leave, which he did.

Jeremy Wright (Con), a member the intelligence and security committee, asked for information relevant to vetting to be handed over it in the first tranche of information it was considering. (The ISC is scrutinising Mandelson material required to be published by the humble address on behalf of parliament, so that material that would pose a national security risk gets held back.) Wright says the ISC did not learn about Mandelson failing to the vetting interview until the story was published by the Guardian on Thursday last week. He asked why Starmer did not tell the committee as soon as he found out on Tuesday.

Starmer says he was going to tell the committee. He wanted to get all the facts first, he said.

Mandelson given ambassador’s job as reward for helping get Starmer elected MP, John McDonnell claims

John McDonnell (Lab) said he welcomed Starmer’s apology. He went on to claim that, when Keir Starmer wanted to become Labour leader, he became dependent on Morgan McSweeney and Peter Mandelson to organise and fund his election. He went on:

When he became prime minister, the reward for McSweeney was control of No 10 and, for Mandelson, the highest diplomatic office.

And the message, that unspoken message to civil servants, was what Mandelson wants. Mandelson gets.

He said Starmer should clear this “toxic culture” out from Labour. And he called for an inquiry into Labour Together, the thinktank that was founded by McSweeney and subsequently criticised for smearing journalists writing critically about it.

Starmer rejects claim No 10 did not check Mandelson’s vetting record after report in Independent in September

Simon Hoare (Con), chair of the public administration and constitutional affairs committee, said he did not understand why nobody asked what had happened in the light of David Maddox’s story in the Independent last September. (See 11.44am.)

Starmer said questions were asked.

The FCDO was repeatedly asked … The same answer came back because a clear decision have been taken that this information was not going to be disclosed and it wasn’t as close to me, let alone to anybody else.

The Labour MPs Diane Abbott said Peter Mandelson had a history of being sacked for scandals going back to the 1990s. She went on:

It’s one thing to say, as [Starmer] insists on saying nobody told me, nobody told me anything, nobody told me. The question is, why didn’t the prime minister ask?

Davey claims Starmer’s statement today shows he has failed to offer change from Johnson era

Ed Davey, the Lib Dem leader, also linked Keir Starmer to Boris Johnson. He said that, when Johnson was PM, Starmer said the public wanted honesty and accountability. Davey went on:

I’m afraid the fact that [Starmer] even had to make the statement today shows how badly he has failed, how badly he’s let down the millions of people across our country who are so desperate for change.

UPDATE: Davey said:

The prime minister knew that appointing Mandelson was an enormous risk, he decided it was a risk worth taking – a catastrophic error of judgment, and now that it’s blown up in his face, the only decent thing to do is to take responsibility.

Back in 2022, the prime minister rightly accused Boris Johnson of expecting others to take the blame while he clung on. That was not acceptable then, and it’s not acceptable now …

After years of chaos under the Conservatives, we needed a government focused on the interests of the people – the cost of living crisis, the health and care crisis, our national security. We needed a government of honesty, integrity and accountability. So will the prime minister finally accept that the only way he can help to deliver that is to resign?

Emily Thornberry suggests Morgan McSweeney so keen to make Mandelson ambassdor he ignored national security concerns

Emily Thornberry, the Labour chair of the foreign affairs committee, suggested that Peter Mandelson leaked the news of his likely appointment, bouncing No 10 into confirming it.

And she goes on:

Doesn’t this look like, for certain members of the prime minister’s team, getting Peter Mandelson, the job was a priority that overrode everything else and that security considerations were very much second order.

This was a reference to Morgan McSweeney, who as the PM’s chief of staff when Mandelson was appointed and who is thought to have been the person who pushed the appointment through. He and Mandelson were friends and allies.

In response, Starmer did not accept that No 10 downgraded national security concerns.

Badenoch ended her speech with a reference to an exchange between Boris Johnson and Keir Starmer.

On 26 January 2022 [Starmer] said to a previous prime minister at this dispatch box, if he misled the house, he must resign. Does he stand by those words, or is there one rule for him and another for everyone else?

(This sounded like a compelling payoff, but it was misleading. Johnson was accused of lying to MPs, and the privileges committee subsquently concluded he had lied to them about Partygate. But even Badenoch has now dropped her claim from last week that Starmer deliberately misled MPs about Mandelson. See 10.330am.)

Badenoch claims Starmer did not ask questions about Mandelson because ‘he didn’t want to know’

Badenoch criticised Starmer for sacrificing his officials.

The prime minister has thrown his staff and his officials under the bus.

Yet this is a man who once said, “I will carry the can for the mistakes of any organisation I lead.”

Instead, he has sacked his cabinet secretary. He has sacked his director of communications, he has sacked his chief of staff and he has now sacked the permanent secretary of the Foreign Office.

All of these people fired for a decision he made.

Badenoch also criticised Starmer for not asking enough questions

[Starmer’s] defence is that he, a former director of public prosecutions, is so lacking in curiosity that he chose to ask no questions about the vetting process.

He asked no questions about Mandelson’s relationship with Epstein. He asked no questions about the security risk Mandelson posed. Apparently, he didn’t even speak to Peter Mandelson before his appointment. It doesn’t appear that he asked any questions at all. Why? Because he didn’t want to know.

Badenoch said that Starmer’s account of events was getting murkier all the time.

At every turn, with every explanation, the government story has become murkier and more contradictory. It is time for the truth.

Badenoch said she had too many questions to cover in her time. So she was going to focus on six, she said. She said she had given Starmer notice of them.

She has posted them on social media.

Badenoch’s six questions Photograph: Kemi Badenoch

There are too many questions to ask in the allotted time,

Badenoch said the Mandelson appointment was a matter of national security.

We still do not know exactly why Peter Mandelson failed that vetting. We do not know what risks our country was exposed to, and we do not know how it is possible that the prime minister said repeatedly that this was a failure of vetting, went on television and said things that were blatantly incorrect, and not a single adviser or a single official told him that what he was saying wasn’t true.

Badenoch says Starmer breached ministerial code by not telling MPs on Wednesday last week about Mandelson error

Kemi Badenoch started her response to Keir Starmer by claiming that No 10 said earlier that Starmer would admit that he inadvertently misled the Commons. But Starmer did not say that in his statement, she said.

I will remind him that, under the ministerial code, he has a duty to correct the record at the earliest opportunity. The prime minister says he only found out on Tuesday that Peter Mandelson failed the security vetting. The earliest opportunity to correct the record was prime minister’s questions on Wednesday almost a week ago. This is a breach of the ministerial code.

MPs jeer as Starmer says it is ‘incredible’ he was not told full story about Mandelson’s vetting

Starmer went on:

Many members across the House will find these facts to be incredible.

That generated lots of ironic jeering from opposition MPs.

Starmer went on:

I can only say they [the MPs jeering] right. It beggars belief that throughout the whole timeline of events, officials in the Foreign Office saw fit to withhold this information from the most senior ministers in our system, in government.

That is not how the vast majority of people in this country expect politics, government or accountability to work. And I do not think it’s how most public servants think it should work either.

I work with hundreds of civil servants, thousands all of whom act with the utmost integrity, dedication and pride to serve this country, including officials from the Foreign Office who, as we speak, are doing a phenomenal job representing our national interest in a dangerous world in Ukraine, in the Middle East and all around the world.

This is not about them, but yet it is surely beyond doubt that the recommendation from UKSV that Peter Mandelson should be denied development and clearance was information that could and should have been shared with me on repeated occasions, and therefore should have been available to this House and ultimately to the British people.

Starmer says it is ‘frankly staggering’ that he was not told about Mandelson’s security vetting failure

Starmer again says it is staggering that ministers were not told what happened.

As I set out, I do not accept that I could not have been told about UKSV’s denial of security vetting before Peter Mandelson took up his post in January 25th.

I do not accept that the then cabinet secretary could not have been told in September 2025, when he carried out his review into the process.

I do not accept that the foreign secretary could not have been told when making statements to the select committee again in 2025.

On top of that, the fact that I was not told even when I ordered a review of the UKSV process is frankly staggering.

Starmer says it is ‘unforgivable’ officials let foreign secretary say usual vetting procedure was followed

Starmer says he sacked Mandelson in September last year after Bloomberg revelations showed that Mandelson had given answers that were “not truthful” to the Cabinet Office’s vetting process (which took place before the UKSV vetting process, and was different).

In September he asked for a review of the process, he says.

It was carried out by Chris Wormald, the cabinet secretary, who told Starmer in a letter that the “appropriate processes were followed in both the appointment and the withdrawal of [Mandelson].”

Starmer says Wormald was not told that Mandelson had failed the UKSV interview.

He goes on:

I do not accept that I could not have been told about the recommendation before Peter Mandelson took up his post.

I absolutely do not accept that the then cabinet secretary – an official, not a politician – when carrying out his review could not have been told that UKSV recommended that Peter Mandelson should be denied develop vetting clearance.

It was a vital part of the process that I had asked him to review. Clearly he could have been told, and he should have been told.

Starmer says Olly Robbins also told the foreign affairs committe that “Peter Mandelson’s security vetting was conducted to the usual standard set for developed vetting in line with established Cabinet Office policy”.

Starmer says the foreign secretary also signed off on this statement, without being told Mandelson failed the vetting interview.

That the foreign secretary was advised on and allowed to sign this statement by Foreign Office officials without being told that UKSV had recommended Peter Mandelson be denied vetting clearance is absolutely unforgivable.

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Driver killed in Bedford train crash named

Published

2 months ago

June 21, 2026

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The family of Shaun Burton, say they are “devastated” by the loss.

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Spain v Saudi Arabia: World Cup 2026 – live | World Cup 2026

Published

2 months ago

June 21, 2026

info@oxinfo.co.uk

Key events

In the opening half an hour against Cape Verde, Mikel Oyarzabal, the centre-forward, did not get a single touch.

Oyarzabal profile

Kyle Green gets in touch: “Your highlighting of Lalas and his absurdity is something that has prevented me from wanting to watch the coverage on Fox. While every channel has its pros and cons I just can’t.

“I’m 45 and probably the youngest of anyone who remembers him as a player instead of an opinionated insert insult here. As for the match this could be more competitive than it looks on paper Spain need a win the pressure is on them. Saudi Arabia could hold out for a draw and see what happens in their last match. “

News from the England camp, and it seems to be good news on Declan Rice.

“I’m ready and fit, raring to go. I was feeling a little bit of neural pain in my hamstring, which I was managing from after Christmas with Arsenal for a very long time. Obviously, not a lot of people would have known that. It was all behind-the-scenes stuff but it was a smart decision.

“In the end, that last 20 minutes is probably where you pick up the most, and it’s where you play a 70-minute match. But that last 20 is where you really feel your body going for it. And I think it was a smart decision because the last few days I felt really, really good.”

Alex Reid has penned today’s weekend special Football Daily.

Portugal v Uzbekistan on Tuesday enticingly pits the incredibly nice, incredibly 41-year-old-superstar-tolerant Roberto Martínez against Fabio Cannavaro, who’s won a Ballon d’Or as a player and the Chinese Super League as a coach. While the fixture following that game really does see the dream of Thomas Tuchel – in his first international job with England – taking on Queiroz, who is in charge of his ninth national side with Ghana.

The expected formations are 4-2-3-1 for Spain, and 5-3-2 for the Saudi Arabians.

The Saudi team features two Donis changes: Ali Lajami, a defender, and Nasser Al Dawsari, a midfielder, are preferred to Mohammed Abu Al Shamat and Mohamed Kanno. You may recall Salem Al Dawsari, the Saudi captain, as the man who scored the winner against Argentina.

An entertaining read, even for those of us who have just seen the clips.

In a conversation where his co-panelist is casually reminiscing about his days playing alongside Messi or exchanging shirts with Ronaldo Nazário at the World Cup, what exactly is Lalas going to talk about – coming on as a second-half substitute for Earnie Stewart in a friendly against Scotland in 1998? Helping the Kansas City Wizards finish last in the 1999 MLS Western Conference? Did Lalas enjoy an elite playing career? No. But does he do the background reading that could compensate for his relative lack of standing in a conversation with titans like Henry and Zlatan? Also no. But is he charming or funny or charismatic or otherwise magnetic on screen? Eh, no.

For the record, I once interviewed Alexi Lalas on the challenge of playing against Romario in the 1994 World Cup. He had this to say:

“He could kill you in so many different ways. If you remember from that World Cup, he scored so many types of goals. That ranged from solo adventures to an outside-of-the-right-foot half-volley off a corner kick. Romario was both the most difficult to play against and the best that I have faced.

“Roberto Baggio was doing his thing, but in terms of consistency and living up to the hype, he [Romario] was the best. As with all stars, there was a moment when the fans sit up in their seats, and that was a feeling I got with Romario. When it got close to him and the potential for his involvement in a play was there, everybody sat up in their seat. They knew that something spectacular would be happening.”

Saturday’s match reports here.

The Saudi Arabia coach, and Blackburn legend, Georgios Donis, spoke about the challenges facing his team: “Spain is not the same ⁠team when Yamal or Williams are on the bench.

“While they still have plenty of possession, they lack the individual one-on-one penetration when these two are ⁠missing. I’m not saying it’s a problem for Spain, but when those players are missing, they play in a different way. We saw this very clearly against ‌Cape Verde.

“We are playing against one of the best teams in the world, and it’s very important that when you play against these kinds of teams, you ‌should enjoy the experience and respect the opponent, but not too much.

“It is very hard for any team playing against Spain to have any time in possession. So what we must do is to be more in control of our movement and compact, and when the ball goes through the lines, be able to defend dynamically.

“It’s nice to see miracles in football, and we’ve seen favourites losing against underdogs. Of course, it’s great for Saudi football to have a great memory of the result against Argentina, but we aren’t drawing anything from that.

“I think we’ll feel more pressure in that [Cape Verde] game than we will against Spain.”

The Spain coach, Luis De La Fuente had this to say in his Saturday press conference: “This generation of footballers is highly competitive and really fired up… It’s going to be a completely different story,” he said at his pre-match press conference on Saturday. There is no drama or crisis. The bottom line is simply that we need to win tomorrow.”

Four changes for Spain: Lamine Yamal, Pedro Porro, Dani Olmo and Alex Baena also come into the side with Marcos Llorente, Fabian Ruiz, Ferran Torres and Gavi dropping out.

The teams – Lamine Yamal starts

Spain: Simon, Porro, Cubarsi, Laporte, Cucurella, Gonzalez, Rodri, Yamal, Olmo, Baena, Oyarzabal. Subs: Raya, Joan Garcia, Pubill, Grimaldo, Eric Garcia, Llorente, Merino, Torres, Fabian, Gavi, Pino, Williams, Zubimendi, Munoz, Iglesias.

Saudi Arabia: Al Owais, Abdulhamid, Tambakti, Lajami, Al Amri, Al Harbi, Nasser Al Dawsari, Al Khaibari, Al Juwayr, Al Buraikan, Salem Al Dawsari. Subs: Al Aqidi, Al Kassar, Majrashi, Yahya, Al Shehri, Al Boushal, Kadesh, Al Johani, Al Ghannam, Al Hajji, Al Hamdan, Mandash, Kanno, Thakri, Abu Al Shamat.

Referee: Raphael Claus (Brazil)

Perhaps one of the Saudi -players can write themselves into this high-grade selection?

Perhaps it can be their goalkeeper.

Al-Aqidi profile

Madrid screening of Spain v Saudi Arabia cancelled due to heat

The public screening of Spain’s World Cup match against Saudi Arabia in Madrid on Sunday has been cancelled because of extreme heat forecast for the Spanish capital, officials said.

The match, due to kick off at 6pm local time on Sunday, had been scheduled to be shown on a giant screen installed by the Spanish football federation (RFEF) at a fan zone in Plaza de Colón in central Madrid.

Madrid city council and the federation decided to cancel the screening after national weather agency AEMET issued an orange heat warning – the second-highest level – for the Madrid region, with temperatures forecast to reach 40C.

“The decision has been taken with the aim of protecting the health of attendees, event staff and support services involved in the event,” Madrid city hall said in a statement, apologising for any inconvenience.

Officials urged supporters to watch the match indoors in air-conditioned spaces and avoid prolonged exposure to the heat.

Large parts of Spain are experiencing unusually high temperatures for June as a mass of hot air from North Africa moves across the Iberian Peninsula.

A total of 13 of Spain’s 17 regions are on orange alert for heat on Sunday, while the northern Basque Country bordering France is on red alert, the highest level.

Authorities advised residents and visitors to take precautions during the heatwave, including drinking water regularly, staying in cool environments, limiting outdoor physical activity during the hottest hours of the day and taking extra care of vulnerable people. AFP

Can Saudi Arabia repeat the magic of 2022?

Argentina arrived in Qatar on a 36-game unbeaten run. When Lionel Messi opened the scoring from the penalty spot after 10 minutes, a comfortable afternoon seemed in the offing. Saleh al-Shehri and Salem al-Dawsari had other ideas, Argentina had three goals disallowed for offside in the space of 13 minutes and the greatest comeback in Saudi Arabia football history was made. Argentina went on to lift the trophy, while defeats to Poland and Mexico meant the Saudis did not reach the knock-out stage.

Unai Simon over David Raya is a controversial choice for De la Fuentes. The Arsenal keeper could lay claim to being Europe’s best this season.

“Those at the Champions League final had a few more days, so I got there on the Wednesday night,” Raya says. “I arrived a bit before Fabián [Ruiz]. I was saying hello to some of the others in reception when he arrived. I went to say congratulations; that was almost the first thing I did. I couldn’t really talk [to him] after the final; I just didn’t have it in me. The next day we talked about the game properly. Just two mates chatting … I was happy for him that he could lift the trophy for a second time.”

A high pressure game for the European champions, as Sid Lowe reports.

“If we had scored one, the game would have changed,” Martín Zubimendi said. Immediately after the game, De la Fuente had offered a simple analysis: when the ball doesn’t want to go in it doesn’t want to go in, he insisted. Spain had racked up 27 shots, after all. Ferran Torres had hit the bar and seen another clear opportunity saved. Vozinha, the 40-year-old goalkeeper who stopped that, saved six more and was named the man of the match. “There’s nothing to reproach the team for,” Rodri said. “We generated chances but couldn’t put it away; the good thing is they created almost nothing.”

We wait to see what role Lamine Yamal will play today. His coach would surely like to be able to use him.

The worst mistake we could make would be to compare him to anyone. He is the midst of a process. He has exceptional footballing maturity and lives it all with total naturalness. He has great serenity and strength. We have to let him follow his path but those players who have something different are ready for that. They’re geniuses, like Dalí [who] can paint a picture, or Michelangelo. They’re different. What is exceptional to us, isn’t to them. In those extremes, they feel comfortable. Why? Because they are different. What we think is exceptional, they consider normal.

Lamine Yamal profile

Preamble

Spain’s campaign did not get off to a flying start, and Luis de la Fuentes may wake up in the night to visions of Cape Verde’s Vozinha. He will have Georgia on his mind ever since Monday. Saudi Arabia are no pushovers and gave Uruguay a scare in their opening match. Memories of downing Argentina four years ago still abound, and so Spain might beware. They can ill afford to go into the final game with Uruguay at a disadvantage. All eyes on Lamine Yamal, whose fitness situation remains opaque, though Spain need their other forwards to come to the party.

Kick-off 5pm UK, 1pm ET, 2am AEST. Join me.

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