From 32m ago 07.53 EDT Starmer brushes off reports of cabinet divisions over Mandelson scandal In his broadcast interview this morning, Keir Starmer also brushed off suggestions that cabinet ministers do not support him over the sacking of Olly Robbins. Asked if he thought the cabinet was united behind him, Starmer replied: double quotation mark The cabinet is working really hard on a huge amount of issues and what we’re delivering at the moment. We’re preparing for the king’s speech and all the further measures that we’re going to need to take the country forward. And of course, the issue we discuss at cabinet a lot in recent weeks is the war on two fronts, the ongoing war in Ukraine and the developing situation in Iran. What we discuss at cabinet is the international aspect of that, but also the domestic impact in relation to that and the measures that we need to take to ensure that we’re assessing the risks and making sure we’re protecting people in this country from those impacts. When asked a similar question this morning, the Home Office minister Alex Norris just described stories about cabinet divisions as “a load of guff”. (See 9.18am.) Share
1m ago 08.24 EDT Karl Turner joins Tories in proposing inquiry into whether Starmer misled MPs with PMQs comments about Robbins Alexandra Topping Alexandra Topping is a Guardian political correspondent. Karl Turner has joined opposition MPs in calling for Keir Starmer to face a powerful Commons committee to examine whether the prime minister misled parliament about the appointment of Peter Mandelson as ambassador to the US. Turner, who was elected as Labour but who has currently had the whip withdrawn after making a series of interventions criticising Starmer and No 10, has written to the speaker of the Commons urging him to refer Starmer to the privileges committee, the same body which found that Boris Johnson had lied in the Commons over the lockdown parties scandal. In a letter to the speaker posted on X (but later removed), Turner wrote that he was raising a “matter of serious concern regarding the conduct” of the prime minister during PMQs yesterday. He said it was clear that the prime minister’s characterisation of the evidence given by Olly Robbins about the Mandleson vetting controversy was “at best, inaccurate and, at worst, misleading to the house”. During PMQs, Starmer’s said no pressure was put on the Foreign Office to approve the vetting of Mandelson, using quotes from Robbins, the former Foreign Office permanent secretary. The Conservatives, with the support of the Liberal Democrats and the SNP, have been pushing for the privileges committee to intervene in the crisis, and are understood to be exploring a Boris Johnson-style motion which could see all MPs to vote on whether the committee should explore if Starmer was in contempt of parliament. Mel Stride, the shadow chancellor, said that the privileges committee should examine if Starmer had misled parliament, saying testimony by Robbins on Tuesday “directly contradicts” assurances given by the prime minister in the Commons. Stride told GB News: double quotation mark Our belief is that the prime minister has misled parliament, because what he’s said in parliament is that that pressure was not applied, and he’s been contradicted by Olly Robbins. During Cabinet Office questions, shadow Cabinet Office minister Alex Burghart repeated the claim that Starmer had misquoted Robbins’ evidence. He said Starmer should corret the record at the earliest opportunity. In response, Darren Jones, the chief secretary to the PM, said: double quotation mark It is not the view of the prime minister or the government that the prime minister needs to do so. Share Updated at 08.25 EDT
32m ago 07.53 EDT Starmer brushes off reports of cabinet divisions over Mandelson scandal In his broadcast interview this morning, Keir Starmer also brushed off suggestions that cabinet ministers do not support him over the sacking of Olly Robbins. Asked if he thought the cabinet was united behind him, Starmer replied: double quotation mark The cabinet is working really hard on a huge amount of issues and what we’re delivering at the moment. We’re preparing for the king’s speech and all the further measures that we’re going to need to take the country forward. And of course, the issue we discuss at cabinet a lot in recent weeks is the war on two fronts, the ongoing war in Ukraine and the developing situation in Iran. What we discuss at cabinet is the international aspect of that, but also the domestic impact in relation to that and the measures that we need to take to ensure that we’re assessing the risks and making sure we’re protecting people in this country from those impacts. When asked a similar question this morning, the Home Office minister Alex Norris just described stories about cabinet divisions as “a load of guff”. (See 9.18am.) Share
49m ago 07.37 EDT Starmer suggests Tories making false claims about his handling of Mandelson vetting row to derail Labour's domestic agenda Keir Starmer has accused opposition parties of making false claims about his handling of the Peter Mandelson vetting row because they are trying to derail Labour’s domestic agenda. The controversy has been in the news for a week now, with Kemi Badenoch in particular initially accusing Starmer of lying about what happened. All of the main opposition parties have called for Starmer’s resignation over this. But, speaking to reporters this morning, Starmer said claims being made by his critics were wrong, and politically motivated. He told reporters at an event in Newcastle: double quotation mark I think it’s very important to see what’s going on here. Last week, my political opponents were saying that there’s no way a civil servant wouldn’t have told me about the outcome of a developed vetting security exercise. Turns out my political opponents were completely wrong about that. Then they said that I was dishonest. It turns out they were completely wrong about that. They are now putting any allegation they can and I will tell you for why – they are opposed politically to what this government is trying to achieve. We have introduced the Employment Rights Act to give people more rights at work, and the Renters’ Rights Act giving those in rented accommodation more rights is coming in very shortly, we’ve invested a huge amount in the NHS. But my political opponents don’t like that and so you have these allegations that keep on coming. Starmer also defended his decision to sack Olly Robbins, head of the Foreign Office, last week after learning that Robbins had not told him the UK Security Vetting officials who interviewed Mandelson were opposed to him getting clearance. Starmer said: double quotation mark I strongly think that the outcome of the security clearance exercise, the developed vetting exercise, was important and should have been brought to my attention, and could have been brought to my attention, and had it been brought to my attention before Peter Mandelson took up his post and I wouldn’t have appointed him … [Robbins] makes it clear he took a decision not to give me that information. I think that was the wrong decision. View image in fullscreen Keir Starmer speaking to reporters at the Newcastle United Foundation Community Centre in Newcastle today. Photograph: Owen Humphreys/PA Share
1h ago 07.21 EDT Swinney proposes £200 'culture pass' for every Scot turning 18 if SNP win Holyrood election Severin Carrell Severin Carrell is the Guardian’s Scotland editor. John Swinney is bidding to counter Scottish Labour’s offer to overhaul Scotland’s arts policy with a promise to give every young adult a £200 “culture pass” to ensure older teenagers are not priced out of arts and music events. The Scottish National party leader said the pass, which would be given to every teenager when they turned 18, was based on similar policies in Italy, France and Spain. It would cost about £10.8m to deliver. “The days when Scotland’s cultural offering was out of reach to anyone based on their background must be over,” he said. Teenagers would be able to “enjoy the world-class cultural offering on their doorstep, supporting the creative industries and possibly opening up new horizons for young people.” With inflation pushing up live music and gallery prices, it is unlikely £200 will go far but the SNP is also pledging to test whether a minimum wage for Scottish artists can be introduced, similar to Ireland’s successful scheme to give 3,000 artists €325 (£283) a week in three-year cycles. Anas Sarwar, the Scottish Labour leader, said earlier in April his party would introduce a pilot project to top up the incomes of 1,000 artists, musicians and cultural entrepreneurs to a minimum wage of around £14,000 a year. Cultural groups have been pressing for such a scheme in Scotland, and with both the SNP and Labour committed to a pilot project projected to cost £30m, it seems likely one will start. Swinney said the SNP would also reinstate the agency Screen Scotland as a distinct organisation to support the film industry, establish a film and TV school at a university and also a new national company for traditional music, on similar lines to Scottish Opera and Scottish Ballet. Labour’s plans are more far-reaching. It argues Scotland’s arts sector needs a significant overhaul in funding and governance, by making arts and cultural companies eligible for enterprise and national bank funding, and by restructuring the government agency Creative Scotland. View image in fullscreen John Swinney with SNP candidate Paul McClennan at Seabass Vinyl in Tranent, Scotland, today. Photograph: Jeff J Mitchell/Getty Images Share
1h ago 07.06 EDT Cat Little's evidence to foreign affairs committee - snap verdict Readers, I’m afraid you deserve an apology. That was all a bit dull. Cat Little is a very senior civil servant, and she was giving evidence on a controversy that has gripped Westminster to such an extent that it would ultimately bring down the PM. But she did not say anything that will substantially revise our opinion of what happened. Her appearance also confirmed a Westminster truism; while ex civil servants can be extremely newsworthy talking in public, when serving civil servants are on the record, their default mode is boring. From Keir Starmer’s point of view, boring is good. You won’t be seeing much of this on the TV news. And, with Labour desperate to talk about other things, that is a bonus. On most points of substance, what Little said was helpful to the PM. She plausibly refuted the claim that the Cabinet Office suggested Peter Mandelson did not need vetting. (See 9.47am.) She said that “due process” was followed in the Mandelson appointment (see 10.09am) – confirming what Starmer told MPs, and contradicting Tory claims parliament was misled. And she also appeared to criticise Olly Robbins for withholding information from her about the UK Security Vetting report. (See 10.01am.) But she was not prepared to go as far as saying that the PM was right to sack Robbins. And at one point she suggested that, when Starmer did sack Robbins, he was doing so on the basis of limited information; he got rid of Robbins without having read the memo about what mitigations the Foreign Office proposed to put in place to handle the risks around Mandelson appointment, she suggested. She also hinted – but quite vaguely (see 11.19am) – that No 10 has not been fully forthcoming yet about all the minutes relating to Starmer appointing Mandelson. These are answers of interest to Whitehall specialists. But, to most people, the process points in relation to this story are irrelevant, because the key error was the decision to make Mandelson an ambassador in the first place. On the merits of that, the country has already made up its mind. Share Updated at 07.12 EDT
2h ago 06.34 EDT Little refuses to say if she thinks Robbins did anything wrong Towards the end of the hearing, Little was asked if she thought Robbins did anything wrong when he decided to give Mandleson vetting clearance, and when he subsequently without information from the PM. Did he do anything wrong, or was he acting within his powers? Little replied: double quotation mark I’m not here to opine on that, and I don’t think it’s appropriate to give a judgment … ’m not going to be drawn into giving an opinion on the actions of one of my former colleagues. I do not think that is within the scope of my responsibilities in discharging the will of parliament in the humble address. Share
2h ago 06.30 EDT Little told the committee that the “final checks” were being carried out before the publication of the next tranche of material required by the humble address. She said she was grateful to the intelligence and security committee for the significant amount of work they were doing vetting this material. Share
2h ago 06.25 EDT Little was asked why the Foreign Office wanted to see Mandelson’s UKSV report in September. (See 9.52am.) She said she could not recall a reason being given. Share
2h ago 06.19 EDT Little hints further information could be published about how PM decided to appoint Mandelson Q: Why is there no formal record of the meeting where Keir Starmer decided to go ahead with the appointment of Mandelson? Little said that she had carried out an “an information gathering process”, and that she was confident that she had received “all of the information that is within the scope of the [humble] address”. She said it was normal for a record of a meeting like this to be kept. Q: But there is no record of this meeting. Little said there was some cases where she had had to undertake “further investigation”. Q: Do you expect to see further information around this? Little replied: double quotation mark I would … We have undertaken further investigation. Share
2h ago 06.10 EDT Q: The security vetting covers security risks. Does it also cover reputational risks? Little said that this is one of the issues the Fulford review will look at. She repeated the point about how there are currently four parts of the scrutiny process. (See 10.24am.) She said there are overlaps, but they also look at different things. Share
2h ago 06.06 EDT Q: Do you know if the government is planning to make other political appointments to the diplomatic service? Little said the humble address only covers Mandelson. She said she could not comment on other potential appointments. Share
2h ago 06.04 EDT Q: Will the humble address material cover the decision made by the PM to appoint Mandelson? Little claimed that has already been published. Share
2h ago 06.03 EDT Q: Robbins told us last week that Mandelson was given access to security material before his clearance was approved. Is that unusual? Little said that was a matter for the department. Mandelson would have been given “interim clearance”, she said. double quotation mark Ultimately, I believe that an exception was made for him to see certain information and that that is within the framework that the Foreign Office has. Share Updated at 06.56 EDT
2h ago 06.01 EDT Q: Are you aware of any other individuals who have been given DV clearance against a recommendation from the UKSV? Little said that the review is looking at this. She says Darren Jones announced last week that in future clearance can’t be approved against the advice of UKSV. Share
2h ago 05.58 EDT Thornberry asks if there was anything that was in the direct vetting that was not covered by the Cabinet Office’s due diligence report. She says, when she asked Olly Robbins, he would not say. Little answers carefully. She says, speaking hypothetically, the UKSV report could contain more information, because it was a different exercise carried out for a different purpose. Share