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The Guardian - UK
The Guardian - UK
Politics
Jessica Elgot Deputy political editor

How safe is Starmer’s premiership after his Mandelson vetting statement to MPs?

Sir Keir Starmer Olly Robbins Peter Mandelson Boris Johnson House of Commons PLP the Foreign Office
Door of 10 Downing Street
Other prime ministers have been ousted by former permanent secretaries in the past. Photograph: Neil Hall/EPA

Labour MPs frustrated with the lack of a clear mission from Keir Starmer’s No 10 have often urged the prime minister to be more forceful in his arguments, to prosecute his values, to find an enemy to define himself against.

The prime minister has found one: Olly Robbins. Starmer prosecuted his case against the former Foreign Office chief on Monday with the vigour of his former life at the bar.

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