𝓤𝓷𝓲𝓽𝓮𝓭 𝓝𝓮𝔀𝓼

Labour MPs chose to become part of the Peter Mandelson cover-up. On the orders of Keir Starmer, Labour MPs conspired to vote down an investigation into the Prime Minister misleading Parliament, despite there being clear evidence that’s exactly what he’s done.

The Prime Minister told the House of Commons that “full due process” was followed in Mandelson’s appointment as our ambassador to America. I think everybody now knows that’s not true. And last Wednesday, he told me that “no pressure existed whatsoever” from No 10 Downing Street in pushing through the appointment.

Yet, whether it’s the former head of the Foreign Office sacked by Starmer, or the one before also sacked by Starmer, we know there was an enormous amount of pressure to get the PM’s chosen man to Washington … regardless of the vetting.

We operate a simple principle in the House of Commons. If a minister misleads MPs and refuses to correct the record, they can be referred to the Privileges Committee.

Ministers are bound by the Ministerial Code – the same Ministerial Code that Keir Starmer was only too quick to use to prosecute a previous prime minister when he was in my shoes.

The vote was about whether that process should be allowed to take its course. Yet Starmer forced his MPs to block scrutiny before the facts had even been tested.

This sordid affair has gone far beyond the appointment of Peter Mandelson, as bad as that was. It is now about honesty, integrity and accountability.

Labour MPs were elected on a manifesto that promised high standards in public life. They told the public that Parliament matters, that the rules matter, that being honest with public matters.

And now, when tested, they have voted to block scrutiny of the Prime Minister. They have put party over country.

One even said they would vote against investigating Starmer, because they need to pay for a new kitchen and can’t afford to lose their job!

All of this just shows that they believe there is one rule for Labour, and another rule for everyone else.

It also begs the question: if Labour MPs really believe the Prime Minister is telling the truth, why would they need to block an inquiry into whether he has? Surely they would welcome the chance to clear Keir Starmer’s name?

This will not end here. When the Mandelson affair blows up yet again – as it has every month since the truth about Epstein was exposed – Labour MPs will wonder why they debased themselves for this Prime Minister.

Whether sacking his chief of staff, the cabinet secretary, or the head of the Foreign Office, it’s clear that loyalty to Keir Starmer is rarely rewarded. When the pressure comes, he always pins the blame on someone else.

Only Labour MPs can decide if it was worth voting for this cover-up, worth abandoning their own standards, worth putting their names to something that will follow them after this Prime Minister is gone, as he will be before long.

With Tuesday’s vote, any remaining credibility of this Government and the Labour Party that props it up has finally and completely disappeared.