𝓤𝓷𝓲𝓽𝓮𝓭 𝓝𝓮𝔀𝓼

A Labour MP has warned her colleagues will be accused of being “complicit in a cover-up” while slamming the Government’s three-line whip on a crunch vote on Tuesday. Emma Lewell said the order to vote in line with the Government on whether to refer Sir Keir Starmer to the Privileges Committee over Peter Mandelson “smacks once against being out of touch and disconnected from public mood”.

Ms Lewell added: “I have watched this whole sorry saga play out for weeks now, like the public, I feel let down, disappointed and I am angry. Peter Mandelson should never have been appointed, this was a fundamental failure of judgment. Matthew Doyle should never have been given a peerage, this was also a failure of judgment. I feel the way that today’s vote has been handled by the Government smacks, once again, of being out of touch and disconnected from the public mood.”

The MP said she cannot understand why the Prime Minister doesn’t refer himself to clear his name. Ms Lewell who slammed the PM’s “fundamental failure of judgement”, said: “The fact that MPs like me are being whipped into voting against this motion is in my view wrong.

“It has played into the terrible narrative that there is something to hide and good, decent colleagues will be accused of being complicit in a cover up.”

She also described how people accuse her of being part of a “paedo protector party” in the street.

Despite this, Ms Lewell said she would not be voting against the Government. She told MPs: “I can’t understand why the Prime Minister doesn’t refer himself to the committee with a clear statement that he is doing so to clear his name. One quick session of the committee could surely say this matter concluded.

“Instead, it will now drag on and dominate every headline and interview. It will overshadow and undermine every good policy we make, and continue to drag every single one of us down.”

The Prime Minister has urged Labour backbenchers to “stand together” against the motion to refer him to the Privileges Committee over claims he misled the Commons about the way the former US ambassador’s appointment was handled.

A large-scale effort to shore up backbench support was under way on Monday night, with former Labour prime minister Gordon Brown also urging the party to back the Prime Minister.

Allies of Sir Keir appeared confident that a mass rebellion was off the cards as he told a packed meeting of the Parliamentary Labour Party (PLP): “When we stick together and fight together we are so much stronger.”

He sought to dismiss the Commons bid to refer him to the committee which ended Boris Johnson’s political career as a “stunt” by political opponents intent on inflicting damage before the May elections.