No 10 signals Starmer accepts he inadvertently misled parliament over Mandelson vetting

Downing Street has signalled that Keir Starmer accepts he inadvertently misled MPs by not telling them that Peter Mandelson failed his security vetting interview for ambassador to the US. Keir Starmer has been accused of misleading MPs because he told them repeatedly that due process was followed in this process. At the lobby briefing this morning, the PM's spokesperson told journalists that parliament should have been given the information that has come to light about the security vetting leading to a recommendation that Mandelson should not be approved. But the spokesperson said that Starmer did not knowingly mislead parliament. Under the ministerial code, it is only knowingly misleading parliament that is regarded as a resignation offence; ministers who unintentionally mislead parliament are just expected to correct the record at the earliest opportunity. Asked whether Starmer misled parliament, the PM's spokesperson said: "The prime minister would never knowingly mislead parliament or the public. He's clear, though, that this information should have been provided to parliament. It should have been provided to him, it should have been provided to other government ministers. But he clearly did not have this information – that is the crucial fact – he clearly did not have this information when he previously spoke to parliament." Asked if Starmer would be correcting the record, the spokesperson said Starmer would be "updating parliament with the full facts of this case". Downing Street released more on this in a briefing published on Friday.

Keir Starmer would not have appointed Mandelson ambassador to the US if he had known he had failed the security vetting interview, the PM's spokesperson said. The spokesperson told journalists: "It's absolutely the case that had the prime minister been aware that UK security vetting had recommended against his security clearance, then clearly he would not have appointed Peter Mandelson." The spokesperson said that, when it was announced that Mandelson was being appointed, that was subject to security clearance. Asked about the revelation that Simon Case, the then cabinet secretary, told Starmer not to announce the appointment of a politician as an ambassador prior to security vetting, the spokesperson said: "As is normally the case with external appointments, both to the Foreign Office and to the wider civil service, appointments are made subject to obtaining security clearance. Obviously, what is now known is that that security vetting process, UKSV recommended against his security clearance, and the Foreign Office obviously still granted that security clearance. As part of the review into security vetting the chief secretary to the PM announced, we have stopped that practice whereby these appointments can be made before the security vetting is obtained." The spokesperson claimed No 10 repeatedly asked for assurances that vetting had been carried out properly. Asked if No 10 had asked about Mandelson's security vetting, the spokesperson replied: "Repeated questions were asked, whether it was by No 10 or indeed the Cabinet Office, in order to be assured that the proper process was followed in the appointment of Peter Mandelson, and the cabinet secretary at the time led a review of the appointment process, including the vetting process, and throughout that process he was not informed the UK Security Vetting had recommended against the security clearance."

Keir Starmer was advised that, if he wanted to appoint a politician like Peter Mandelson as ambassador to the US, the candidate should go through security vetting before the appointment being announced. Simon Case, the then cabinet secretary, said that to Starmer in a memo written in November 2024. As Sky News points out, the document was one of many released in the first batch of papers published in March as a result of the humble address saying documents about Mandelson's appointment should be published.

The Commons foreign affairs committee has confirmed that Olly Robbins will give evidence to it at 9am tomorrow about the way he was sacked over Peter Mandelson's appointment as US ambassador.

In a statement to MPs at the start of business today, Hoyle said: "I want to make a brief statement about a security matter. I've been informed by the police that a former parliamentary employee was arrested last week under the Computer Misuse Act 1990. The police investigation is ongoing. As you know, we do not discuss the details of such issues on the floor of the house. This is an ongoing criminal investigation. I do not intend to take any further point of order on this matter. I will update members when I'm in a position to share more information."

John Swinney, Scotland's first minister, has claimed that Keir Starmer is not tackling the cost of living crisis because he is distracted by the Peter Mandelson crisis. Speaking on a visit to Shetland, Swinney said: "The cost-of-living-crisis is hurting people right across the country – and when people in Scotland look to their governments for help, the UK government is asleep at the wheel. With people paying through the nose at the petrol pumps and on their energy bills, Keir Starmer and the UK Labour government are so weak and so distracted by the Mandelson scandal that they are doing nothing. Right now, the UK Labour government could put in place a series of practical measures that the SNP has been calling for – scrapping their hike to fuel duty, removing VAT from fuel and introducing a household energy price cap to save people hundreds of pounds. Instead they have done nothing, and are more concerned with saving Keir Starmer's career than helping people."

Nigel Farage has been trying to put distance between himself and Donald Trump – a relationship which polls show is one of the greatest impediment to many Reform-curious voters – while talking up Barack Obama's immigration policies. At his press conference today, unveiling Reform UK's latest proposed asylum crackdown, Farage said: "All this focus on ICE and Trump sort of raises the temperature of everything. Actually, there's a lot of ways in which Obama did it, that we think we can learn from." Farage was referring to the fact that, while some aspects of Obama's immigration policies were liberal, during his presidency deportations reached a record high. A poll last month by More in Common showed that Trump is now underwater in terms of his favourability even with Reform voters, who were previously the only set of UK party supporters who saw him positively. On Monday, Farage also denied that he or Reform UK had anything to do with the pardon which the White House gave last year to Ben Delo, a British billionaire convicted in the US for failing to implement adequate anti-money-laundering controls in his cryptocurrency business. He has given £4m to Reform since then. Farage said: "Ben Delo has been supporting a variety of conservative causes for a very, very long time … and yes he has become very strongly supportive of us, but there have been no conversations with the Trump administration about that, or frankly about anything for quite a considerable period of time."

Plans unveiled by Reform UK that would see a government led by Nigel Farage reviewing all asylum claims going back five years and potentially deporting hundreds of thousands of people have been condemned by the Refugee Council and the Green party. All claims would be reviewed to find if they entered the UK illegally, overstayed a visa or if their country of origin is now deemed safe, said the party. Leave to remain would be revoked for the individuals involved and their dependents if one or more of those criteria applied. Farage told a press conference this morning: "I've already got provisional agreements in place with France – if Bardella becomes the next president, and with Afghanistan. A Reform government would in some cases pay for people to return - but not as much as what the home secretary has proposed, Farage said. Asked if the policy would also affect the children of those facing deportation said: "We will come to the detail closer to the time but this is about establishing the principle." However, the plans were condemned as "unworkable" by the Refugee Council which said the proposals targeted men, women and children who had already been recognised as refugees because they had fled humanitarian disasters and brutal regimes. Imran Hussain, its director of external affairs, said: "Reopening and reassessing hundreds of thousands of asylum decisions would overwhelm the system which is already struggling, tie up the courts for years, and cost taxpayers tens of billions." And, for the Greens, Rachel Millward, one of the party's co-deputy leaders, said: "Another superficial, ill-thought-out and cruel announcement by Reform UK, which will fail to tackle the roots of the asylum crisis whilst making sure more suffering is heaped on the most vulnerable. We do not want to see people risking their lives crossing the channel in small boats. What we need is strong international cooperation to address the reasons that people are having to seek asylum in the first place: war, poverty and the climate crisis, and to provide safe and managed routes that would offer a real alternative to people smugglers. We must remember our basic humanity. Many of those seeking asylum have endured horrendous trauma. They include mothers and children. We have a duty to offer compassion and sanctuary, not insecurity, fear and intimidation."

Nigel Farage, the Reform UK leader, has said that, if his deputy Richard Tice owes money to HM Revenue and Customs, it will be paid. He was speaking at his press conference in response to a story published by the Sunday Times yesterday saying that some of Tice's companies failed to almost £100,000 in corporation tax. In his reply, Farage did not challenge the substance of the story, just as Tice did not seriously contest the detail of it in a statement about it he issued about it yesterday. Farage joked about being "more confused" having got to the end of the story than he was at the start. Farage also claimed that Tice was only being targeted because of role with Reform UK. Farage went on: "As Richard says, all of this was done by professional accountants, and he has spoken to HMRC about it. If there's a problem, he will pay … All I would say to you is the Richard Tice has had a long, distinguished career in business, and if there's an error, if his accountants have made an error, he'll put it right. But I very much doubt that will be the case."