\n<\/p>\n
David Davis<\/strong>, the former Tory Brexit secretary, is opening the emergency debate on Peter Mandelson. He is a backbencher, but he is speaking first because he was the MP who requested an emergency debate.<\/p>\n He started by saying it was ironic that the public office (accountability) bill had just been presented to the Commons (the formal first reading of the Hillsborough bill). He said the bill starts by saying it will \u201cimpose a duty on public authorities and public officials to act with candour, transparency and frankness\u201d.<\/p>\n That is appropriate to this debate, he said.<\/p>\n Share<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n Key events<\/p>\n <\/span><\/p>\n 5m ago<\/p>\n Mandelson ‘subcontracted his conscience for money’, says Davis, in attack on peer’s record as lobbyist<\/p>\n<\/li>\n 19m ago<\/p>\n David Davis tells MPs Mandelson’s ‘abiding flaws’ should have disqualified him from ambassador’s job<\/p>\n<\/li>\n 26m ago<\/p>\n MPs hold emergency debate on Mandelson’s appointment as ambassador to US<\/p>\n<\/li>\n 31m ago<\/p>\n Cooper says Cabinet Office, not Foreign Office, carried out initial propriety checks prior to Mandelson’s appointment<\/p>\n<\/li>\n 54m ago<\/p>\n Starmer says Hillsborough duty of candour law won’t be watered down, and should be passed ‘as quickly as possible’<\/p>\n<\/li>\n 1h ago<\/p>\n Yvette Cooper says Israel ground offensive in Gaza City ‘utterly reckless and appalling’<\/p>\n<\/li>\n 1h ago<\/p>\n Badenoch questions whether Starmer has been ‘honest with public’ about Mandelson sacking<\/p>\n<\/li>\n 2h ago<\/p>\n Minister says deportations to France under returns deal to start ‘as soon as possible’, as first flight reportedly cancelled<\/p>\n<\/li>\n 2h ago<\/p>\n Greens welcome defection of three councillors to party from Labour in London<\/p>\n<\/li>\n 2h ago<\/p>\n Danny Kruger ‘profoundly wrong’ about Tory party being over, Mel Stride claims<\/p>\n<\/li>\n 2h ago<\/p>\n Met police say they expect to arrest 50 more people following disorder at Tommy Robinson rally<\/p>\n<\/li>\n 3h ago<\/p>\n Maria Caulfield becomes latest former Tory MP to defect to Reform UK<\/p>\n<\/li>\n 3h ago<\/p>\n New leftwing party being set up by Jeremy Corbyn and Zarah Sultana to hold conference in November, it says<\/p>\n<\/li>\n 3h ago<\/p>\n Google announces \u00a35bn AI investment in UK before Trump visit<\/p>\n<\/li>\n 4h ago<\/p>\n Lucy Powell has clear lead over Bridget Phillipson in Labour’s deputy leadership contest, poll of members suggests<\/p>\n<\/li>\n 4h ago<\/p>\n State pension set to rise by more than \u00a3500 a year from April, figures suggest<\/p>\n<\/li>\n 4h ago<\/p>\n UK labour market cools as pay growth slows and job losses rise<\/p>\n<\/li>\n 4h ago<\/p>\n Starmer to chair cabinet as polling shows only 26% of Labour members approve of his leadership<\/p>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n <\/span>Show key events only<\/p>\n Please turn on JavaScript to use this feature<\/span><\/p>\n <\/span><\/p>\n Davis<\/strong> is now talking about what happened last week, in the days before Mandelson\u2019s sacking.<\/p>\n He says on Tuesday the PM knew that the Foreign Office was looking into claims about new emails revealing the extent of Mandelson\u2019s relationship with Jeffrey Epstein.<\/p>\n Morgan McSweeney, the PM\u2019s chief of staff, is said to have spent much of the day talking to Mandelson, he says.<\/p>\n He says the government should say what Keir Starmer was told at this point.<\/p>\n And he asks if the minister responding will accept that Starmer should have been more curious at this point.<\/p>\n Share<\/p>\n Davis<\/strong> is now talking about Mandelson\u2019s links with China.<\/p>\n He says in 2021 Mandelson told the Chinese premier during a lobbying meeting \u201cthat the critics of Beijing\u2019s human rights record would be proved wrong\u201d.<\/p>\n And he says that Mandelson was the only Labour peer in the Lords to vote against a proposal saying the government would have to reconsider any trade deal with a country committing genocide. This was aimed at China, he says.<\/p>\n He goes on:<\/p>\n So, frankly, it would appear that Lord Mandelson subcontracted his conscience for money.<\/p>\n Share<\/p>\n Davis<\/strong> is now talking about Mandelson\u2019s links with Oleg Deripaska, a Russian oligarch.<\/p>\n He says Deripaska is a \u201cgangster capitalist\u201d who took control of the Russian aluminium industry.<\/p>\n He says there is evidence in Interpol and American government documents suggesting that Deripaska was involved in murder, bribery, extortion and organised crime. He is \u201ca truly bad man\u201d, Davis says.<\/p>\n As EU trade commissioner, Mandelson accepted hospitality from Deripaska \u201con multiple occasions over several years\u201d, Davis says, \u201cincluding visiting him in Moscow, being flown by Deripaska\u2019 private jet to stay at his dacha in Siberia and on his private yacht in the Mediterranean, all while considering whether to give Russian aluminium access to the European market\u201d.<\/p>\n Davis says Mandelson signed off on concessions to a firm ultimately owned by Deripaska worth $200 million a year.<\/p>\n Share<\/p>\n Updated at\u00a008.05 EDT<\/p>\n Davis<\/strong> says Peter Mandelson was campaigning to get the ambassador\u2019s job whilst also campaigning to be chancellor of Oxford university.<\/p>\n So there was time to vet him before the formal process started, he says.<\/p>\n He says there was a vast amount of material in the public domain.<\/p>\n This process would look at the risk of the candidate being blackmailed, or the risk of the candidate abusing the role.<\/p>\n And it should also look at the risk of the candidate being \u201ctoo morally flawed to be given a major role in anything\u201d, he says.<\/p>\n Davis says this is relevant.<\/p>\n He says Mandelson was \u201ceasily dazzled by wealth and fame and \u2026 willing to use his public position to pursue those things\u201d.<\/p>\n There was an example of this early in Mandelson\u2019s career when he took a loan from Geoffrey Robinson to buy a flat. Failure to disclose this led to his first cabinet resignation.<\/p>\n Davis goes on:<\/p>\n That was the first time we saw so publicly the abiding flaws in Lord Mandelson\u2019s character, which, frankly, would normally disqualify any normal person from a job this important.<\/p>\n Share<\/p>\n Updated at\u00a008.01 EDT<\/p>\n David Davis<\/strong>, the former Tory Brexit secretary, is opening the emergency debate on Peter Mandelson. He is a backbencher, but he is speaking first because he was the MP who requested an emergency debate.<\/p>\n He started by saying it was ironic that the public office (accountability) bill had just been presented to the Commons (the formal first reading of the Hillsborough bill). He said the bill starts by saying it will \u201cimpose a duty on public authorities and public officials to act with candour, transparency and frankness\u201d.<\/p>\n That is appropriate to this debate, he said.<\/p>\n Share<\/p>\n Yvette Cooper<\/strong> has said the Foreign Office was not involved in the decision to approve Peter Mandelson as a suitable candidate to be ambassador to the US before his appointment was announced.<\/p>\n In a letter to the Commons foreign affairs committee, Cooper, the foreign secretary, said the Cabinet Office carried out initial propriety checks.<\/p>\n Responding to a series of questions asked by the committee about the Mandleson vetting process, Cooper said:<\/p>\n Prior to the announcement of Peter Mandelson\u2019s appointment as Ambassador, the Propriety and Ethics team in the Cabinet Office undertook a due diligence process.<\/p>\n After Peter Mandelson\u2019s appointment was announced on 20 December 2024, the FCDO [Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office] started the ambassadorial appointment process, including National Security Vetting. The vetting process was undertaken by UK Security Vetting on behalf of the FCDO and concluded with DV [developed vettin] clearance being granted by the FCDO in advance of Lord Mandelson taking up post in February.<\/p>\n Share<\/p>\n Updated at\u00a007.49 EDT<\/p>\n Community<\/strong>, one of the smaller unions affiliated to Labour, which represents workers in the steel industry and other sectors, has nominated Bridget Phillipson for deputy Labour leader. Its assistant general secretary Alasdair McDiarmid said:<\/p>\n Following a unanimous decision by our NEC, Community is pleased to endorse Bridget Phillipson for deputy leader of the Labour party.<\/p>\n As she demonstrated in her speech at TUC Congress, Bridget is passionate about building a better country for working people, including through delivering the employment rights bill in full. Our members in the education and early years sector can attest to the strong and constructive relationship she has forged with trade union partners as secretary of state, and her unwavering commitment to securing better outcomes for education professionals and the children and young people they support.<\/p>\n Share<\/p>\n Keir Starmer<\/strong> has payed tribute to the Hillsborough relatives who have been campaigning for years for a law, including a legal duty of candour, saying public officials must not cover up disasters. The government is publishing its bill today.<\/p>\n In an interview with the BBC, Starmer said this was the result of families and campaigners who \u201cnever gave up on justice and truth\u201d.<\/p>\n He said that he had hoped to publish the bill by 15 April, the Hillsborough anniversary, but that he needed more time \u201cto get it right\u201d. He said the government was \u201cnot going to allow it to be watered down or changed\u201d and that he wanted to see it passed \u201cas quickly as possible\u201d.<\/p>\n <\/span>Keir Starmer speaking to BBC<\/span> Photograph: BBCShare<\/p>\n Yvette Cooper<\/strong>, the new foreign secretary, has described the new Israeli ground offensive in Gaza City as \u201cutterly reckless and appalling\u201d. In a comment on social media, she said:<\/p>\n The new IDF assault on Gaza is utterly reckless and appalling.<\/p>\n It will only bring more bloodshed, kill more innocent civilians & endanger the remaining hostages.<\/p>\n We need an immediate ceasefire, all hostages released, unrestricted humanitarian aid and a path to lasting peace.<\/p>\n Share<\/p>\n Kemi Badenoch<\/strong> has said there should be \u201cserious consequences\u201d if Keir Starmer did not tell parliament the truth about Peter Mandelson.<\/p>\n In an interview with GB News ahead of the emergency debate on Mandelson later, Badenoch said:<\/p>\n I think that there should be serious consequences if you have lied to parliament.<\/p>\n On his own benchmark, I remember Keir Starmer going after Boris Johnson and setting a standard. All I\u2019m asking is that he meet the very same standard which he was setting for other people.<\/p>\n Has he been honest with the public? And what the public actually think is that this is a man who tells lies. He told lies to get elected.<\/p>\n The Commons privileges committee found that Johnson lied to MPs about parties in No 10 during Covid. There is no evidence at all that Starmer has lied to parliament about Mandelson. Some MPs suspect that, when No 10 said Starmer defended Mandelson on Wednesday last week but sacked him on Thursday because he only learned the full details of the Mandelson\/Jeffrey Epstein correspondence on Wednesday night, they might be playing down the extent of what Starmer did know before PMQs.<\/p>\n <\/span>Kemi Badenoch with Mel Stride, the shadow chancellor (left) and Andrew Griffith (right) meeting local business owners during a visit to Sophie’s Steakhouse in Soho, central London, today.<\/span> Photograph: Stefan Rousseau\/PAShare<\/p>\n Deportations to France under the government\u2019s \u201cone in, one out\u201d deal with France will take place \u201cas soon as possible\u201d, a minister has said, after a planned flight on Monday was reportedly cancelled.<\/p>\n According to a report by Charles Hymas<\/strong> for the Telegraph, the first planned deportation was cancelled at the last minute. Hymas says:<\/p>\n The Telegraph understands that one migrant was due to be flown from Heathrow to Paris on an Air France passenger flight on Monday, but the flight was postponed amid protests by charities and threats of legal action.<\/p>\n The Home Office is understood to be planning to put him on another flight on Tuesday, with the French authorities preparing to accommodate him in a hotel in Roissy-en-France, in the north-eastern suburbs of Paris.<\/p>\n In interviews this morning, Alex Davies-Jones<\/strong>, a justice minister, would not confirm or deny the report, saying she would not give a \u201crunning commentary\u201d on deportations.<\/p>\n If I was to break down with you exactly a time-by-time, day-by-day movement on our returns policy, then that would be giving these abhorrent people-smugglers exactly what they want.<\/p>\n This would be allowing them to know what the government is doing when, and they would be able to respond to that. We are not going to be doing them any favours.<\/p>\n But she said the deportations would start \u201cas soon as possible\u201d.<\/p>\n A government source told PA Media the first deportation flights under the deal with France are expected to take place this week.<\/p>\n Share<\/p>\n Zack Polanski<\/strong>, the Green party leader, has welcomed the defection of three councillors to the party from Labour on Barking and Dagenham council. He says:<\/p>\n This is huge. 3 more London councillors leave Labour and join @TheGreenParty.<\/p>\n We\u2019re now on more councils than the Lib Dems in London.<\/p>\n Labour – you\u2019re next.<\/p>\n Share<\/p>\n Mel Stride<\/strong>, the shadow chancellor, told the Today programme this morning that Danny Kruger was \u201cprofoundly wrong\u201d to say the Conservative Party was \u201cover\u201d when he defected to Reform UK.<\/p>\n Asked Kruger\u2019s comments, Stride<\/em> said:<\/p>\n Well, he\u2019s profoundly wrong, Nick. I\u2019m sorry to see Danny go, but his analysis is wrong.<\/p>\n We don\u2019t have an election now for another four years.<\/p>\n It is certainly the case that we had a devastating defeat about a year ago, that we lost that connection with the electorate, that trust with the electorate, and it is also true that it will take us time to rebuild that.<\/p>\n Stride said his party was now holding the government \u201cruthlessly\u201d to account, which formed part of rebuilding trust between the Conservatives and the public.<\/p>\n Share<\/span>Rachel Reeves, the chancellor, welcoming the US treasury secretary Scott Bessent to 11 Downing Street this morning.<\/span> Photograph: Simon Walker\/HM TreasuryShare<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" MPs hold emergency debate on Mandelson’s appointment as ambassador to US David Davis, the former Tory Brexit secretary, is opening the emergency debate on Peter Mandelson. He is a backbencher, but he is speaking first because he was the MP who requested an emergency debate. 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Mandelson ‘subcontracted his conscience for money’, says Davis, in attack on peer’s record as lobbyist<\/h2>\n
David Davis tells MPs Mandelson’s ‘abiding flaws’ should have disqualified him from ambassador’s job<\/h2>\n
MPs hold emergency debate on Mandelson’s appointment as ambassador to US<\/h2>\n
Cooper says Cabinet Office, not Foreign Office, carried out initial propriety checks prior to Mandelson’s appointment<\/h2>\n
Starmer says Hillsborough duty of candour law won’t be watered down, and should be passed ‘as quickly as possible’<\/h2>\n
Yvette Cooper says Israel ground offensive in Gaza City ‘utterly reckless and appalling’<\/h2>\n
Badenoch questions whether Starmer has been ‘honest with public’ about Mandelson sacking<\/h2>\n
Minister says deportations to France under returns deal to start ‘as soon as possible’, as first flight reportedly cancelled<\/h2>\n
Greens welcome defection of three councillors to party from Labour in London<\/h2>\n
Danny Kruger ‘profoundly wrong’ about Tory party being over, Mel Stride claims<\/h2>\n