This blog will be closing soon
This blog will be closing soon, but we will be continuing our reporting of UK politics over on the Guardian website – breaking the latest stories as they happen.
Just now, prime minister Keir Starmer has ordered an investigation into any security concerns relating to Peter Mandelson’s tenure as UK ambassador to the US, our political correspondent Peter Walker reports.
“I know many members across the house will find these facts to be incredible,” Starmer told jeering MPs, after setting out how the Foreign Office opted to overrule the initial decision to refuse Mandelson’s security vetting without informing him and other ministers.
He said: “To that I can only say they are right. 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.”
He added that the Foreign Office had been stripped of its powers to overrule vetting decisions.
You can read the first take of the story below.
Updated
The Conservative shadow Lords leader has accused Keir Starmer of appointing Mandelson through “the VIP Lane”, referring to the high priority route to procure items of personal protective equipment during the Covid-19 pandemic.
Former cabinet minister Lord True said: “This is a tortuous and frankly somewhat embarrassing statement, stable door after stable door pushed shut long after the obvious national security risk had bolted through them.”
He told the Lords: “You didn’t need vetting to see Mandelson as a proven liar.
“You didn’t need vetting to see he was twice forced to resign in disgrace from government. You didn’t need vetting to hear he revelled in the company of what he called the filthy rich from whatever dubious nation that might be.
“You didn’t need vetting to know he was a known associate and defender of the convicted paedophile (Jeffrey) Epstein. You didn’t need vetting or process – you needed gumption, judgment and common sense, things you cannot contract, sub-contract those things to a Whitehall committee.”
He added: “It looks as if, on the prime minister’s wishes, the process for Mandelson’s clearance was put in what was called, how was it in the Covid era? The VIP lane. And we all know what became of that.”
