Starmer-Mandelson latest: PM to face fresh grilling at PMQs as Labour MPs ramp up pressure over vetting scandal – UK Times

A major new poll has projected the worst result for Labour in London since the 1970s, with the Greens set to become the largest party on four councils.

The poll, commissioned by YouGov, Sky News and Politico, shows the Greens are due to win the highest vote share in Hackney, Lambeth, Lewisham and Waltham Forest.

Labour sources have also told The Independent that they are expecting a “bloodbath” in Islington.

Reform UK are also set to pick up previous Conservative support and claim former Labour safe seats in Barking and Dagenham and Bromley.

Of the 32 London boroughs, Labour only wins the highest vote share in 15 councils, six less than in 2022.

Read the full analysis from our political editor David Maddox here:

Sir Keir Starmer will face questions in the Commons for a second time this week amid the ongoing fallout over the vetting of Lord Peter Mandelson.

Sir Keir will face Prime Minister’s Questions at midday under intense pressure over his decision to fire Sir Olly Robbins from the Foreign Office.

Dame Emily Thornberry has said there is “most definitely blame on both sides” when asked who is right between Sir Keir Starmer and ex-Foreign Office chief Sir Olly Robbins.

She told Sky News: “I think that Olly Robins should have told the prime minister or should have told somebody, ‘there have been problems, but I’ve overridden it, and so long as he doesn’t do X, Y and Z, he’ll be all right’, which is kind of where we got to with him,” she said.

“And I think that, on the other hand, it was appalling to have put pressure not just on him, but on Philip Barton [Robbins’ predecessor] beforehand.”

The veteran Labour MP presided over the Foreign Affairs Select Committee which questioned Sir Olly yesterday on his decision not to inform the prime minister of Lord Mandelson’s vetting outcome.

She added it was “completely wrong” of the government to have gone through the whole approval process before vetting Mandelson because it “puts ridiculous pressure on the Foreign Office”.

When asked if Sir Keir should resign, she said: “I think that Keir is going to keep his job. and I think it’s the right thing to do.

“We’ve got a war going on, and I think that this is not the time to even be thinking about this.”

Cabinet minister Pat McFadden has described Sir Keir Starmer as “very resilient” and called on disillusioned Labour MPs not to “ditch the leader”.

Asked on Sky News if the mood was mutinous among backbenchers, he said: “No, I don’t think it’s mutinous.

“Look, no one wants the week to be dominated by the story that it’s been dominated by for the last week. We’ve got local elections coming up, I’ve got announcements today on youth employment.”

Asked what his message is to MPs considering removing Sir Keir Starmer, McFadden replied: “My message to them is the prime minister has acknowledged this appointment was a mistake, whatever the rationale was for it […] And to be a prime minister is to be a decision-making machine. And they won’t all be right.

“But that doesn’t mean you ditch the leader. It doesn’t mean you change prime minister. I think we’ve had too much of that in the UK in recent years.

“I think we need a period of keeping a prime minister for a period of time to let him do the job he was elected to do. This is a difficult story, it’s a difficult week.”

He added that Starmer is “determined to carry on”, describing him as “very resilient”.

A former No 10 communications director has said that the Labour government are struggling to contain the Lord Mandelson vetting scandal.

James Lyons, who served under Sir Keir Starmer for seven months last year, said that Sir Olly Robbins “unilaterally decided to disregard red flags” about his appointment in failing to inform the prime minister.

He added that claims Sir Keir lied to parliament are “completely untrue”.

However, he said: “The Prince of Darkness is haunting the prime minister and this administration.”

He adds: “It’s certainly true that the government have struggled to get ahead of the Peter Mandelson scandal.”

Former civil service chief Lord Sedwill said Sir Olly should be reinstated.

“Olly Robbins acted with the calm integrity and intelligence that have defined his public service,” he said. “His job was to judge whether Mandelson’s risks could be mitigated, not tell the PM what he already knew.

“Starmer should retract his accusations and reinstate him.”

Pat McFadden has insisted that yesterday was the first he had heard of Matthew Doyle being put forward for an ambassadorship, telling Sky News he does not believe Lord Doyle “had the experience to become an ambassador”.

It came after Sir Olly Robbins claimed that Downing Street secretly pushed for Lord Doyle to be given a top diplomatic job in another embarrassing revelation for the Labour government.

“I don’t know what conversations took place between No 10 and the Foreign Office about that, but it didn’t come to anything. I don’t think Matthew had the experience to become an ambassador.”

He added: “I don’t think he would have been right for such a post. I think it’s right that no appointment was made.”