MPs to debate Tory motion calling for privileges committee inquiry into Starmer

Speaker Lindsay Hoyle has confirmed MPs will get to debate a Conservative motion calling for a privileges committee inquiry into Keir Starmer tomorrow. Hoyle told MPs he received letters from various MPs, including the opposition leader, and after taking advice, he decided to let MPs take this decision. He said issues like this should be taken to the privileges committee sparingly, emphasising his role as gatekeeper to stop frivolous complaints being taken forward. Kemi Badenoch will be able to table a motion for debate tomorrow, which will be held after any statements and urgent questions.

Former prime minister Gordon Brown has urged Labour MPs to support Keir Starmer when the Commons votes tomorrow on the Tory motion saying the privileges committee should investigate allegations Starmer lied to MPs about the Peter Mandelson vetting process. Brown said: "At challenging times both for our country and the world, the Labour party has always sought to put the needs of the country first and with conflicts raging around the world with profound consequences for our country, this is the time to do so. Whatever the parliamentary games at Westminster, what the country expects of everyone in Labour is to focus on the priorities of the British people, which is what Keir Starmer is doing and for which he deserves all our support."

Labour has a working majority of 165, and the government should be able to vote down the Tory motion without difficulty. However, with Starmer's authority with his MPs already diminished, No 10 is taking no chances. Wavering MPs are being bombarded with calls from ministers and Starmer allies, sometimes half a dozen in quick succession. The PM is addressing the PLP tonight, with Gordon Brown, Alan Johnson and David Blunkett all rowing in behind him. The message is repeatedly that this is not a time to be distracted by Mandelson.

Downing Street has published a previously confidential memo in a bid to refute the claim that Keir Starmer misled MPs when he told them due process had been followed when Peter Mandelson was appointed ambassador to the US. The memo is dated 16 September 2025 and is from Chris Wormald, cabinet secretary at the time, to Starmer. Wormald said: "The process for his appointment was unusual but not irregular... The evidence I have reviewed leads me to conclude that appropriate processes were followed in both the appointment and withdrawal of the former HMA Washington."

In other developments, an end to the long-running Birmingham bin strike is "within sight" after a breakthrough in the bitter dispute over jobs and pay. Council leader John Cotton said he believed a new offer could be made to the Unite union, whose members have been on all-out strike for more than a year. The offer includes compensation of £16,000 for workers.

Scottish Labour leader Anas Sarwar has said Labour will implement changes to the Equality Act required by the supreme court's trans ruling if it wins the Holyrood election. The supreme court ruled in April 2025 that the definition of a "woman" in equalities law is based on biological sex. Sarwar said: "First of all, the clearest example of the difference is we will stop using taxpayers' money to challenge women and people, and we'll get on straight away with implementing the Equality Act and making sure we're protecting single-sex spaces based on biological sex."

Police are assessing evidence about donations to Robert Jenrick's campaign to become Conservative leader in 2024 after a referral from the elections watchdog. The Electoral Commission has passed on information about allegations that almost £40,000 of donations to Jenrick's leadership campaign were from a foreign source in breach of electoral rules. The Conservative party has reported Mr Jenrick to the parliamentary commissioner for standards.

Nigel Farage suggested Starmer's fate will be decided not by the vote tomorrow, but by the results of the May elections. He told the Press Association: "Starmer's future will be decided by the elections on May 7 and if Reform do as well as I think we can in the old Labour areas, that will be the end of him."