Labour MPs defy Starmer and demand ethics inquiry

Daily Telegraph 28/04/28 Labour MPs have demanded Sir Keir Starmer refer himself to the privileges committee over the Mandelson scandal.

Backbenchers have said that despite pressure from No 10, they will not vote to protect the Prime Minister from an ethics inquiry over claims he misled MPs. The crunch vote is seen as a vote of confidence in Sir Keir’s leadership, after the Prime Minister held a meeting with MPs on Monday urging them to back him. John McDonnell, the former shadow chancellor under Jeremy Corbyn, said Sir Keir should refer himself to the committee to clear his name. “When you’re under attack like this you don’t run from the attack, you run to face it,” he told the Commons. Andy McDonald agreed, adding that the Prime Minister had made it clear “he has not misled this House. So in those circumstances, would it not be the right thing to do to embrace this process and wipe the floor with the critics that put these things to him?” Nadia Whittome, the Labour MP for South Shields who is a fierce critic of Sir Keir’s, went further and said she would vote to refer him to the committee. The Telegraph understands another Labour MP on the Left of the party is also minded to abstain. The revolt currently appears to be confined to MPs who are known critics of the Prime Minister. Majority of the public think there should be a official inquiry on whether Starmer misled Parliament Six in ten people believe there should be an official inquiry into whether Sir Keir Starmer misled Parliament about the Mandelson vetting saga, a new poll has shown. A survey for YouGov found that 61 per cent of voters believe there should be an inquiry of the nature that MPs are currently debating in the Commons. Just one fifth of voters do not think there should be one.