Sir Keir Starmer is dealing with probably the most damaging day of his premiership after being accused by his personal MPs of fostering a “toxic culture” at Downing Street — with one Labour backbencher declaring him a “dead man walking.”
The disaster deepened dramatically on Tuesday as Sir Oliver Robbins, sacked final week as head of the Foreign Office, advised the international affairs choose committee that No 10 had positioned him beneath “constant pressure” to approve Lord Mandelson’s safety clearance, and accused Downing Street of taking a “dismissive approach” to the vetting course of. Officials had even questioned whether or not checks have been wanted in any respect, he revealed.
Sir Oliver additionally struck again at his former boss, disclosing that Sir Keir had covertly manoeuvred to safe a diplomatic function for a second disgraced peer — a revelation that deepened the sense of disaster surrounding the Prime Minister.
Senior Cabinet figures Yvette Cooper and Ed Miliband compounded the injury by stepping again from the Prime Minister in public — an open show of dissent that underlined the rising fracture between No 10 and its personal most senior ministers.
What are Labour MPs saying about Kier Starmer?
Imran Hussain, the Labour MP for Bradford East, advised the Commons the scandal went to the center of how Downing Street operated.
“At the heart of this is a toxic and dismissive culture at No 10. At some point we can not get away from it,” he stated. “That divisiveness has led us to this place. This is not a small administration breach, it is a matter of national security.”
Ian Byrne, the Labour MP for Liverpool West Derby, stated Mandelson’s appointment “reflects a wider direction under the Prime Minister” and warned {that a} “toxic culture” had been allowed to “take hold of No 10 and the governing of our country.”
One unnamed MP advised The Telegraph that Sir Keir’s place was now untenable.
“How long can this zombie administration continue?” they stated. “It’s over for him. He can’t come back from this. Someone needs to put an arm around him and say: it’s over.”
What did Robbins say about Starmer?
Sir Oliver advised MPs that by the point he arrived on the Foreign Office in January final yr, Mandelson’s appointment as US ambassador was already being handled as a completed deal. He accused Downing Street of bullying the Foreign Office into approving the clearance, saying No 10 had utilized “constant pressure” all through the method.
Dame Emily Thornberry, the committee’s chairman, raised a earlier declare that Sir Oliver’s predecessor had been advised to “just f—ing approve” the appointment — an instruction reportedly relayed by Morgan McSweeney, Sir Keir’s then chief of employees, to Sir Philip Barton, the highest Foreign Office civil servant on the time of Mandelson’s appointment in December 2024.
Sir Oliver stated he didn’t imagine McSweeney would use such language and had “no memory” of his predecessor mentioning the decision. McSweeney denied the declare on Tuesday afternoon, telling Politico he had not referred to as Sir Philip immediately and had not sworn at him.
https://www.express.co.uk/news/uk/2196856/starmer-dead-man-walking-labour-mps-toxic-culture-no10-mandelson