Opposition parties ‘playing silly political games’ calling for PM to face probe

The Tories and other opposition parties have accused Sir Keir of misleading Parliament over the process which led to the peer’s ill-fated appointment as ambassador to the US.

It is up to Commons Speaker Sir Lindsay Hoyle to decide whether to allow a vote on whether the matter should be referred to the Privileges Committee – the panel which investigated former prme minister Boris Johnson over partygate.

Environment Secretary Emma Reynolds accused the Tories of playing “silly political games”.

Sir Keir believes Sir Olly’s evidence to the Foreign Affairs Committee last week showed he had not lied to MPs about the process.

Ms Reynolds told Sky News: “Ten days ago, we had Kemi Badenoch and other members of the opposition saying that the Prime Minister deliberately misled Parliament.

“He didn’t, and that was categorically proven last week, and they’ve accepted that. He has not lied to Parliament.

“So I do think that the opposition – guess what, 10 days out from local elections and important elections in Scotland and Wales – are playing silly political games when we should be talking about the big issues at stake in the country here.”

She would not speculate on whether Labour MPs would be whipped to vote against sending Sir Keir’s case to the committee.

Dame Emily Thornberry, Labour chairwoman of the Commons Foreign Affairs Committee, told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme it was “plain as the nose on my face” that the move was timed to cause damage ahead of the May elections – but an investigation may be required “at some point in the future”.

She said: “I think this is a serious and important issue, investigations are happening at the moment.

“It may be that at some stage in the future, some of the questions haven’t been answered, and it is decided that they are of sufficient importance that the Privileges Committee should be involved, but I don’t really see why we’re doing it at the moment, apart from, potentially people trying to score points in advance of the local elections.

“I’m sorry to say that, and I’m not supposed to be partisan on this, but it is as plain as the nose on my face what’s going on here.”

Labour former Cabinet ministers Alan Johnson and David Blunkett released a joint statement calling the move a “nakedly political stunt with no substance” ahead of the polls.

They said a referral to the watchdog would be a waste of public money and that comparisons with Mr Johnson were “absurd”.

“When Parliament referred that matter to the Privileges Committee, a police investigation had directly disproved his categoric statements that he knew nothing about the breach of lockdown rules including parties in Downing Street, and therefore he had a case to answer for knowingly misleading the House of Commons,” they said.

Shadow home secretary Chris Philp said on Sunday that the Privileges Committee needed to investigate whether Sir Keir misled Parliament “which he appears to have done”.

The Liberal Democrats have also called for the Privileges Committee to investigate.

If Sir Lindsay allows a debate and vote on the issue, it is likely to take place on Tuesday, coinciding with further hearings by the Foreign Affairs Committee on Lord Mandelson’s appointment.

The MPs are due to hear from Sir Keir’s former chief of staff, Morgan McSweeney, widely regarded as a protege of Lord Mandelson.

He resigned in February over his part in the peer getting the coveted job.

The committee will also hear from Sir Olly’s predecessor, Sir Philip Barton, and receive written evidence from Foreign Office official Ian Collard, who briefed Sir Olly on the vetting findings.

Sir Olly said he was told the security experts who carried out the vetting deemed Lord Mandelson a “borderline” case and leaned towards recommending that clearance be denied, but the former Foreign Office mandarin approved his developed vetting status with mitigations put in place.

Downing Street has said the findings from UK Security Vetting, the agency which carried out the checks, were more clear-cut, labelling Lord Mandelson of “high concern” and recommending that he be denied clearance.

The Prime Minister has been accused of misleading MPs by saying that “full due process” was followed in appointing Lord Mandelson and by saying that “no pressure existed whatsoever in relation to this case”.

Sir Olly told MPs “my office and the Foreign Secretary’s office were under constant pressure” about the appointment in January 2025, after it had been announced but before the security checks were completed.

Sir Keir told The Sunday Times “there are different kinds of pressure”.

“There’s pressure, ‘Can we get this done quickly’, which is not an unusual pressure. That is the everyday pressure of government,” he said.

But the Prime Minister said he was talking about something different in the House.

“There is a separate pressure which is: was there a pressure on him, essentially, to disregard the security vetting element and give clearance?” he said.

“(Sir Olly) was really clear in his mind that wasn’t pressure that was put on him. And he also goes on to say that none of this impacted his decision.”