Rishi Sunak: Mandelson scandal is 'not a failure of process but of political judgment'
Sir Keir Starmer has called for several reviews into the vetting process after it emerged, UK Security Vetting (UKSV) had recommended against Lord Mandelson being appointed as US ambassador.
Former prime minister Rishi Sunak has described the Lord Mandelson scandal “not a failure of process but of political judgment”.
Sir Keir Starmer has called for several reviews into the vetting process after it emerged, UK Security Vetting (UKSV) had recommended against the peer being appointed as US ambassador.
The Prime Minister sacked former head of the Foreign Office, Sir Olly Robbins, after he was not informed of the vetting outcome.
Sir Olly told the Foreign Office Committee that he did not believe he could inform Sir Keir, and that he thought mitigations could be put in place to deal with Lord Mandelson’s issues.
Writing in The Sunday Times, Mr Sunak said: “The responsibility for the decision rests with the Prime Minister.
“If the response to this crisis is more process, it will just mean the system is even more geared against ministers being able to actually change things, when what we need is better judgment and sounder decisions.”
Cabinet minister Darren Jones insisted there were “serious process failings” in the vetting of Lord Mandelson despite the Civil Service head of his department, Cat Little, saying due process had been followed.
Mr Sunak, the Richmond and Northallerton MP, said: “Choosing the safer path isn’t always right, either. I have far more regrets about decisions I didn’t take than ones that I did.
“The answer to bad prime ministerial decisions isn’t yet more process, which will slow down good decisions and won’t necessarily prevent bad ones, but accountability for those decisions to parliament and, ultimately, to the electorate.
“The most significant long-term threat to our democracy is a sense among voters that nothing gets done, that everything takes too long.
“If we respond to the Mandelson debacle by accelerating that trend, we will worsen the problem.”
The Prime Minister said this week any claims he misled Parliament had been put to bed by Sir Olly’s evidence to the Foreign Affairs Committee.
He insisted Sir Olly faced only the “everyday pressure of Government” to clear Lord Mandelson for the role, in an interview with The Sunday Times.
Questions over the vetting scandal will carry on this week when Sir Keir’s former chief of staff Morgan McSweeney is due to appear before the same committee of MPs.
The Tories have called for Sir Keir to face the Privileges Committee over allegations he misled Parliament about Lord Mandelson.
Mr Jones, the Chief Secretary to the Prime Minister, said it is for House Speaker Sir Lindsay Hoyle to decide whether a vote on such a move is something that goes ahead.
He also accused the Conservatives of “using tactics” ahead of local elections.
The Shadow Home Secretary called for Labour backbenchers and ministers to “develop a backbone” and support investigation by the Privileges Committee.
Chris Philp told the BBC documents on Lord Mandelson’s appointment as ambassador to the US are being released “because of a vote that we scheduled in Parliament a few months ago, which forced them out”.
He added: “Now we need the Privileges Committee to investigate whether Keir Starmer misled Parliament, which he appears to have done.
“Frankly, Keir Starmer should resign because he appointed Mandelson in the first place, which is a terrible, terrible misjudgment – a man with links to Russia and China and Jeffrey Epstein.
“If he doesn’t, Labour backbenchers and ministers should develop a backbone and get rid of him.”
It comes as Karl Turner has said that Labour will likely lose the next election with Sir as leader.
Mr Turner, suspended by the party for rebelling over the jury trials policy, told GB New his Hull East seat “has been forever held by Labour. My predecessor, John Prescott was the MP for 40 years – people around here have only ever voted Labour.”
But he said that if a general election “was next week or anytime soon after, I'd be gone, my P45 is already waiting to be dispatched to me, and I'm afraid to tell you, we'd lose and we'd lose badly”.
In an interview, Sir Keir said that the “vast majority” of Labour MPs support him and want him to continue as Prime Minister.
However, new polling from LBC and Ipsos has found half of Britons want the Prime Minister to resign, with Andy Burnham as the public’s preference to replace him.
A third of people agreed with Mr Turner, and said Labour would be more likely to win without Sir Keir.