UK politics: Starmer avoids privileges committee inquiry into vetting of Peter Mandelson – as it happened
MPs voted 335-223 against the motion, meaning the government won by a majority of 112.Keir Starmer saw off an opposition bid to refer him to a standards committee over Peter Mandelson’s appointment.The government won the vote by 335 votes to 223, a majority of 112.Peers have ended their stand-off with MPs over plans to curb social media for under-16s after the government agreed to introduce “age or functionality restrictions”.After the Guardian’s story that the Treasury is considering imposing a one-year rent freeze on private sector homes to deal with the impact of the Iran war on household budgets, the PM’s spokesperson said: “We have no plans to implement this.
Our focus remains on cutting bills and backing renters alongside lower energy prices.”But, during Treasury questions in the Commons, Rachel Reeves did not rule out the idea.Asked if she would consider the case for a fixed-term rent freeze, Reeves said: “This government have already taken action to reduce the cost of living and to bear down on inflation with the changes around energy prices, around fuel duty, prescription charges and rail fares.“And I will do everything in my power and use every lever we have to bear down on the cost of living, including for people in the private rented sector.”Sir Christian Turner, who replaced Peter Mandelson as ambassador to the US, privately told students in February that the Epstein scandal could bring down Keir Starmer.
Turner’s comments have been reported by the Financial Times, which also says the diplomat told the students that the only country with which the US really has a special relationship is Israel,Giving evidence to MPs, Morgan McSweeney, former Downing Street Chief of Staff, said learning the full extent of Peter Mandelson’s relationship with Jeffrey Epstein in September 2025 was like “having a knife through my soul”,McSweeney also accepted he was at fault in recommending Mandelson,Ed Davey accused the PM of cowardice after he ordered Labour MPs to vote against referring him to the Privileges Committee,The Liberal Democrat leader said: “Starmer has ducked the scrutiny he should have faced by forcing Labour MPs to defend him.
What a cowardly way to govern.“If he truly felt his conduct over the Mandelson scandal was up to scratch he should have undergone investigation by the Privileges Committee.“The Liberal Democrats will always stand up for decency and honesty in politics – unlike this Prime Minister.”In total, 15 Labour MPs went against the three-line whip and voted for the Conservative-led motion to subject the PM to an investigation by the Privileges Committee including Richard Burgon, Rebecca Long Bailey, former shadow chancellor John McDonnell, Andy McDonald and Brian Leishman.Keir Starmer saw off an opposition bid to refer him to a standards committee over Peter Mandelson’s appointment after Downing Street deployed its full weight to force Labour MPs to shore up the prime minister, writes Ben Quinn and Yassin El-Moudden.
However, the Labour leader bore the brunt of anger from some of his own backbenchers who accused him of creating a situation where they would be perceieved as being complicit in “a cover-up.”The vote – tabled by the Conservative leader, Kemi Badenoch – was on whether the privileges committee should consider if the prime minister misled the Commons in relation to the disgraced peer taking the role of US ambassador.While it united opposition parties including the Liberal Democrats, SNP, Reform and others, there will have been relief in the government that Labour figures such as Angela Rayner opted to keep their powder dry.The government won the vote by 335 votes to 223, a majority of 112.Badenoch had opened the debate by accusing the Starmer of forcing his MPs to come out to assist him “to avoid scrutiny”.
“They are being whipped today to exonerate him before the facts have even been tested,” she added.The Liberal Democrat leader, Ed Davey, likened Starmer’s response to the motion to that of Boris Johnson, when the then Conservative MP faced a similar vote that paved the way for an inquiry into whether he misled parliament over alleged breaches of lockdown rules.“The prime minister called this motion a stunt, that is not why I put my name to it.But it’s funny though, because ‘stunt’ is exactly the same word Boris Johnson used about the motion the prime minister and I tabled four years ago, referring Boris Johnson to the privileges committee,” said Davey.Closing the debate for the government, Darren Jones, the chief secretary to the prime minister, said: “In recent weeks some have accused the prime minister of dishonesty saying there was no way that Foreign Office officials would have given Peter Mandelson clearance against the vetting agency’s recommendation let alone without checking with the prime minister himself.
Downing Street accused the Conservatives of resorting to a “desperate political stunt” after MPs rejected a bid to launch an inquiry into whether Keir Starmer misled the Commons over the appointment of Peter Mandelson.A Number 10 spokesperson said: “This Labour Government is delivering for Britain including bringing down energy bills, cutting hospital waiting lists and lifting half a million children out of poverty.“The Conservative Party resorted to this desperate political stunt the week before the May elections because they have no answers on the cost of living or the NHS.“We will continue to engage with the two parliamentary processes that are running on Peter Mandelson’s appointment with full transparency.”MPs voting on whether to refer Keir Starmer to the Privileges Committee were heckled as they did so, Commons speaker Sir Lindsay Hoyle said.
Speaking after giving the voting figures, Hoyle said: “Can I just say, a member of Parliament has been to complain to me, and another member.“When other members are shouting ‘shame’ when they’re voting, it is not acceptable and it will not be tolerated.”He urged those responsible to apologise to those they had shouted at.MPs voted 335-223 against the motion, meaning the government won by a majority of 112.After a lively debate, MPs are now exiting to vote on whether or not Keir Starmer should face a parliamentary inquiry into allegations that he misled the House and be referred to the Privileges Committee over his comments around the vetting of Peter Mandelson.
The result is expected at 6.30pm.Darren Jones said Starmer is not in the Commons currently as he is chairing the Middle East response committee.He also accuses the Conservatives of “distraction, distraction, distraction” over the motion being debated.Darren Jones repeats there was no pressure put on officials over the Mandelson appointment not to have him vetted.
He also cites Boris Johnson initially denying attending parties during the pandemic in 2020 when it later emerged he had done so and was fined by police,
‘Protected for another century’: experts lift 15-tonne foremast from HMS Victory
There is only one correct way to extricate a 15-tonne wrought iron mast from one of the world’s most famous and beloved warships – very slowly, and with extreme care.Which is precisely how a 30-strong team led by shipwrights and riggers set about their task on Monday night into Tuesday morning when they lifted the foremast from HMS Victory as part of a £42m conservation project.A 750-tonne crane removed the 23-metre mast from the ship in an operation requiring power to lift the wrought iron structure but also a great deal of delicacy to make sure the fabric of the vessel was not harmed.In the coming days, as long as the wind does not get up, two more masts – the mizzen and bowsprit – will also be craned off Nelson’s 18th-century flagship at the Battle of Trafalgar and laid on a Portsmouth dockside ready for conservation work to begin.At daybreak on Tuesday, Patrizia Pierazzo, the deputy project director, hailed it as a “great start”
Having Spent Life Seeking by Kae Tempest review – painfully earnest tale of trauma and transition
Kae Tempest’s new novel is dedicated to “you”, the reader. It also comes with a plea: “Be gentle though.” But to whom or what should we be gentle? The book or the writer? Having Spent Life Seeking is Tempest’s second novel, arriving a decade after his first and following a period of considerable personal change, including gender transition. Perhaps inevitably, it is a book full of struggle and soul-searching. It is also painfully earnest: an enervating read with an exhausting intensity that neither relents nor resolves
The Primitives: ‘A reviewer said that Crash would finish the band. Then it was in Dumb and Dumber’
The Primitives formed in the summer of 1984 with a singer called Keiron, who brought me in to write songs. When he left, we pinned up an advert in Coventry library and Tracy, who I’d actually met before on a Youth Opportunity Programme, answered. At that point, we sounded more like the Birthday Party or the Gun Club, so I wrote three new songs – Through the Flowers, Across My Shoulder and Crash – to test a more pop direction. Crash was simple and noisy, with a basic guitar line that became the “Na na na” hook.It was in our live set, but we dropped it quite quickly
Arts funding gap in the north must be closed | Letters
It was pleasing to read about Labour’s commitment to the principle of access to art for “everyone” (Editorial, 17 April). Everyone seemingly in London, where a whopping £135m has been invested in the V&A East museum – the latest addition to the buzzing East Bank cultural quarter.When, I wonder, will this Arts Everywhere Fund arrive at what used to be the buzzing cultural centre of the Albert Docks in Liverpool, where the Tate has been closed for more than two years? Where the museum of slavery has closed its doors and where what was a buzzing arts area now looks neglected and abandoned.When will places in the north, such as the once-vibrant towns of Kendal, Barrow and Kirkby Lonsdale, be given the same large sums spent on venue after venue in London?All the towns mentioned above are, incidentally, desperately bidding for UK town of culture 2028 designation in the hope of winning some desperately needed cash to enhance their cultural sector and to bring to these long-neglected and once-thriving centres accessible places where people can share in the joy of music, theatre or heritage, as are enjoyed by our lucky communities in “once neglected areas of London”.Spread the joy, Lisa Nandy, and let’s all have a share in the investment
‘I wanted alcohol to take me to a place where I was not’: comedian John Robins on the moment he realised he had a drinking problem
For most of his life, John Robins assumed he got more out of alcohol than it took from him. Now he knows it was the other way round ‘I picked up the bottle of wine and drank straight out of it. I was seven’ Read an exclusive extract from his new memoirThe Guardian’s journalism is independent. We will earn a commission if you buy something through an affiliate link. Learn more
Tate at a turning point: new director must confront unwieldy ‘beast’ of an art institution
Roland Rudd, the chair of Tate, is in a bullish mood when we meet at his offices in the Adelphi Building, which sits on the Thames between the art institution’s two London sites. “Things have never been better,” he says.It’s a rebuff to any suggestion that the organisation is in flux – and, as if he were expecting the question to arise, Rudd produces a piece of paper from his suit pocket with notes to prove his point. The recent wins, he says, are so numerous that he has written them down so as not to forget any.At Tate Britain, Turner and Constable drew in 270,000 people, which Rudd insists “is phenomenal”; Lee Miller was “the most popular photography show anywhere in the UK”; and “Tracey” (Tracey Emin, to you and me) has brought in 125,000 paying visitors, “a remarkable number”, over at Tate Modern
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