Judgment day as Starmer faces Commons showdown over Mandelson scandal
Keir Starmer will deliver a high-stakes statement to MPs on Monday as he struggles to overcome fears inside his government that the Peter Mandelson vetting scandal could yet cost him his leadership.In what is set to be a dramatic showdown, the prime minister will set out how Mandelson was able to take up his role as UK ambassador without the Foreign Office revealing it had overruled the decision to fail his vetting.The scandal, first revealed by the Guardian last week, has already led to the sacking of the top civil servant at the Foreign Office, Olly Robbins, who is expected to appear before MPs on Tuesday in what could be another moment of grave peril for Starmer.Ministers spent the weekend trying to shore up Starmer’s position after opposition party leaders called for him to quit over the affair, arguing he would not have gone ahead with sending Mandelson to Washington had he known.But senior government figures are concerned that this week could be make-or-break for the prime minister – despite him being bolstered by his handling of the Iran crisis – if more damaging information should emerge or if sceptical Labour MPs should finally lose faith.
“We just don’t know how it will all play out, but all roads lead back to the original sin: Keir’s decision to appoint Peter Mandelson to Washington even though everybody knew it was high risk.This week could go either way,” one said.Starmer said on Sunday he would make it “crystal clear” to MPs he had been in the dark over Mandelson’s vetting – and said it was “unforgivable” the Foreign Office failed to tell him after he had told MPs due process had been followed.The prime minister will set out the facts on Mandelson’s security vetting after he instructed officials to urgently establish them when he was finally informed about the decision last Tuesday.Downing Street also sought to demolish the argument from Robbins’s allies that he was prevented by law from telling ministers that Mandelson had failed vetting, arguing that there was a difference between being involved in the decision and being informed about it.
It published an explanatory document which said: “No law stops civil servants sensibly flagging UK security vetting recommendations, while rightly protecting detailed sensitive vetting information, to allow ministers to make judgments on appointments or on explaining matters to parliament.”At the same time, Starmer told the Daily Mirror: “The fact that I wasn’t told that Peter Mandelson had failed his security vetting when he was appointed is astonishing.“The fact that I wasn’t told when I said to parliament that due process had been followed is unforgivable, and that’s why I intend to set out in parliament on Monday the facts behind that, so there’s full transparency in relation to it.“But am I furious that I wasn’t told? Yes, I am.Am I furious that other ministers weren’t told? Yes, I am.
I should have been told, and I wasn’t told.”Robbins, meanwhile, is understood to be taking legal advice after being sacked as head of the Foreign Office, and ahead of answering questions from the foreign affairs select committee on the scandal on Tuesday.The former top civil servant is understood to feel angry at what he believes to be his unfair treatment by the prime minister, and determined to put his side of the story, after his dismissal sent a chill through Whitehall.David Lammy, the deputy prime minister, told the Guardian that voters wanted stability, not “a self-flagellating, internally focused” governing party.There has been frequent speculation that a leadership contest may ensue after what are expected to be brutal local and devolved elections for Labour on 7 May.
However, in recent weeks, Labour MPs appeared to have stepped back.“In the middle of 2026, with a serious global crisis affecting prices and affordability, the idea of jettisoning one leader because of a bad set of local results, it is just pie in the sky, if you think the electorate are going to thank us for that,” Lammy said.“What will happen if we were to do that is that, very quickly, people would call for a general election.And I’m not sure that this is the moment to have one.”Liz Kendall, the technology secretary, insisted Starmer had not gambled with national security by appointing Mandelson, as the government tried to limit fallout from the scandal.
Asked why he was not losing his job over the scandal, as a growing list of civil servants have done, she said it was because Starmer, “on the big calls facing this country, has made the right calls”, including on global issues.
Quarter of a million people could lose job by middle of 2027 as UK ‘flirts with recession’, analysis says
A quarter of a million people could lose their jobs by the middle of next year as Britain “flirts with recession”, analysis suggests, after business confidence was shattered by the US-Israel war on Iran.As the chancellor, Rachel Reeves, summoned bank chiefs for talks aimed at containing the fallout, twin reports from top accounting firms underlined the scale of the economic threat facing the UK.Iran’s retaliatory closure of the strait of Hormuz trade route and its strikes on its regional neighbours, which have sent oil and gas prices soaring, will cause the biggest economic hit since the Covid pandemic, according to the EY Item Club, an economic forecast group.A separate report by Deloitte found finance bosses at big UK businesses were already reining in their spending plans, taking action that was likely to weigh on economic activity and hiring.The EY Item Club said it expected the UK economy to flatline in the second and third quarters of this year, leaving the country at risk of recession, defined as two successive quarters of contraction
William Hill owner Evoke in talks on £225m takeover by casino group Bally’s
Evoke, the London-listed gambling company that owns William Hill and the 888 online casino brand, is in takeover talks with the US casino operator Bally’s Intralot.The heavily indebted company said in a statement to the stock market that it was in discussions with Bally’s “regarding a possible offer” for the business at 50p a share, almost a third higher than its closing price on Friday and valuing the group at £225m.It comes four years after the company, previously known as 888 Holdings, paid £2.2bn to buy William Hill’s network of 1,400 bookmakers. Since then, its shares have fallen by 90%
Kenyan firm sacks more than 1,000 workers after losing Meta contract
More than 1,000 low-paid workers in Kenya have been abruptly sacked by an outsourcing company contracted by Meta, in what activists said was a shocking move exposing the precariousness of tech jobs in the global south.Sama, a company based in Nairobi to which Meta outsourced content moderation and AI training work, announced on Thursday that the workers were being laid off after Meta terminated a contract.Last month reports said some Kenyan workers involved in data annotation were asked to view content filmed using Meta’s AI smart glasses showing wearers using the toilet or having sex.The sacked workers, many involved in AI training, have been given six days’ notice, according to the Oversight Lab, an organisation that advocates for fair regulation and deployment of technology across Africa. It said it was advising the workers on legal options
UK’s OnlyFans tops $3bn valuation amid talks to sell stake to US investor
OnlyFans, the UK adult video platform, is in talks to sell a minority stake to a US investor that will value the business at more than $3bn (£2.2bn).The London-based company is in advanced talks to sell a stake of less than 20% to the San Francisco-based investment firm Architect Capital, according to the Financial Times. Sources familiar with the process confirmed the talks to the Guardian.OnlyFans has decided that offloading a minority stake is the best guarantee of stability for a business dealing with the death of its owner, Leonid Radvinsky
Jack Draper faces French Open fitness race as knee injury worries deepen
Jack Draper has been sidelined for at least another month as injuries continue to disrupt his hopes of establishing himself as one of the top players in the world.Draper has withdrawn from the Madrid Open this week and the subsequent Italian Open due to the aggravated knee tendon injury that forced him to retire from his opening match at the Barcelona Open last week.Although he will miss most of the clay-court season, Draper is still aiming to compete at Roland Garros, which begins in five weeks on 24 May. He is considering entering one of the tournaments scheduled a week before the French Open.“An aggravated tendon in my knee means I am not able to play in Madrid and Rome,” Draper said in a statement
LeBron James is 41. And he’s somehow still carrying his team in the playoffs
The Lakers star would have been expecting to play a supporting role as he burrows into his 40s. But injuries means he has assumed a familiar roleLeBron James must be so sick of this. If he wanted to experience being the best player on an otherwise thin team, he could simply remember the Cleveland Cavaliers’ run to the NBA finals in 2007. Or the 2015 NBA finals when his best teammates, Kyrie Irving and Kevin Love, suffered injuries. Or the 2018 season, which convinced SNL to make a spoof of James’ support staff
European stock markets fall and oil and gas prices jump 5% as strait of Hormuz ‘chaos’ worries investors – business live
Oil prices rise and markets fall after US seizure of ship hits Iran peace deal hopes
Sonos Play review: a great jack-of-all-trades portable speaker for home or away
How a fiery attack on Sam Altman’s home unfolded
Hampshire v Somerset, Warwickshire v Essex, and more: county cricket – live
Floods, baskets and Billie Jean King: how the rough and tumble WBL set the stage for the WNBA