Speaking on behalf of the government yesterday, Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology Liz Kendall told Sky News she supported Starmer even after fresh revelations last week that security officials had raised concerns about Mandelson’s appointment as ambassador to the United States.
Both Kendall and deputy prime minister and Lord Chancellor David Lammy, who spoke to the Guardian newspaper, insisted that their boss would have blocked the appointment had he known Mandelson had failed security vetting.
The comments by Kendall and Lammy over the weekend follow days of silence from key Cabinet ministers, as the revelations prompted calls from the opposition for Starmer to resign.
The prime minister, who has blamed the Foreign Office’s top civil servant, Olly Robbins, for approving the appointment without informing Downing Street of the failed vetting, is due to discuss the matter in Parliament today — a crucial moment that could determine whether he hangs on to his job.
Kendall said it was wrong for Robbins not to inform the prime minister or the foreign secretary that vetting had advised against the appointment.
‘‘I have absolutely no doubt at all, knowing the PM as I do, that had he known that Peter Mandelson had not passed the vetting, he would never, ever have appointed him ambassador,’’ Lammy, who was foreign secretary at the time, told the Guardian.
Allies of Robbins have told British media including the Sunday Times that the former civil servant was being scapegoated. Robbins is expected to appear before the foreign affairs select committee tomorrow, where he will outline measures put in place to mitigate the risks related to Mandelson.
Starmer’s opponents have raced to criticise the premier, accusing him of misleading Parliament.
‘‘He is taking the public for fools,’’ Kemi Badenoch, leader of the Conservatives, said on Saturday.
‘‘We know that No10 was told that Mandelson had failed his vetting because journalists told them in September last year. This leaves us with two possibilities: either the prime minister is lying or he is so incompetent that he is unfit to run the country.
‘‘Either way his position is untenable,’’ she said.
Ed Davey, who heads the Liberal Democrats, also said on Sky News that Starmer had shown ‘‘catastrophic misjudgment and that’s why we have said he needs to go.’’
Cracks are beginning to emerge within Labour as well, with Lord Glasman becoming the most senior party figure to call on Starmer to resign, the Telegraph newspaper reported.
‘‘He cannot conceivably continue as a credible prime minister any longer. And that’s all because he cannot say ‘I made a mistake, I’m sorry’,’’ Glasman, who is the founder of the Blue Labour movement, told the newspaper.
The outcry over the Mandelson appointment is leaving Starmer in a vulnerable position, weeks before a set of local elections on May 7 that opinion polls suggest will reseult in a Labour trouncing. That could open the premier up to leadership challenges, with the Sun and the Telegraph reporting that Manchester Mayor Andy Burnham and former deputy PM Angela Rayner held a ‘‘secret meeting’’ on Friday. — Bloomberg News
