WESTMINSTER — Prime Minister Keir Starmer is facing a privilege motion in the House of Commons over his appointment and subsequent dismissal of Peter Mandelson as ambassador to Washington. Conservative leader Kemi Badenoch is seeking a vote on whether the privileges committee should investigate whether Starmer misled the House by stating that "full due process" had been followed.

Starmer appointed Mandelson to the Washington post in late 2024 despite vetting officials recommending that he be denied security clearance. Within a year of taking up the role, Mandelson was sacked after documents showed his friendship with Jeffrey Epstein was closer than previously realised. Mandelson had remained a friend of Epstein after Epstein was convicted of sexual offences against children.

Badenoch secured a humble address motion demanding that the government publish all documents relating to Mandelson's appointment. The process of gathering those documents revealed written advice that Mandelson should not be granted security clearance. The existence of that advice, and the fact it had been overlooked by the Foreign Office, was disclosed by a newspaper. Badenoch also brought an emergency motion to the Commons urging MPs to hold the government to account for the appointment.

A critic of the government said: "We absolutely have learned the lessons from what happened during Partygate. Our long-term strategy is to trap the prime minister progressively until he can no longer deny that he misled parliament." The same critic said: "Misleading parliament has always been a big deal. We are very aware of a change in the meaning of contempt in 2022 which means that it is contempt not only to mislead the house but also to refuse to answer reasonable questions in it."

Tim Bale, Professor of Politics at Queen Mary University of London, said: "Command of parliamentary process is incredibly important for a leader of the opposition. If Badenoch has that, she can use it, if not to prise Starmer out of Downing Street, then at least to so damage the morale of Labour MPs and ministers that his position is untenable." He added: "Popular prime ministers and governments are able to fend off anything the opposition does. But if they are in trouble, anything the opposition does tends to feed into instability."

Starmer's net approval rating has fallen from around 0 to about -40 percentage points. He faces local council elections next month that could see the Labour Party lose control of councils across the country and come third in its former strongholds of Scotland and Wales.