Mandelson vetting questions should be answered in Parliament – Sarwar

Scottish Labour leader Anas Sarwar has said the Prime Minister should answer questions in Parliament, following the revelations about the vetting of Lord Peter Mandelson.

UK ministers have denied Sir Keir Starmer misled Parliament, after it emerged officials overruled a recommendation by security experts not to clear Lord Peter Mandelson to become UK ambassador to the US.

The Prime Minister had previously told MPs “full due process” was followed around the appointment.

The Scottish Labour leader commented on the issue while highlighting his party’s postal voting campaign on Friday, standing with a giant letter outside Bute House in Edinburgh – the First Minister’s official residence.

Mr Sarwar said the scandal around Lord Mandelson was the “tipping point” which led to his earlier call for Sir Keir to quit.

Asked if he thought the Prime Minister had misled Parliament, Mr Sarwar told the Press Association: “These are questions that of course have to be answered by Downing Street – in the Parliament and also in any appropriate parliamentary committees.

“I stated my position back in February, I stand by my position – I don’t recoil from it.

“Many people will know that the Mandelson scandal was the tipping point for me.”

Speaking about the upcoming election, he said: “Keir Starmer is not standing to be first minister.

“It’s not about a judgment on two years of a Labour Government.

“It’s about what happens here in Scotland after 20 years of an SNP Government that have lost their way.”

Asked again if he thought Sir Keir had misled Parliament, he said: “That’s questions that need to be answered by the Prime Minister, by Downing Street.

“I don’t know the individual ins and outs of those conversations or what information was available or wasn’t available.

“But I stated my position, I stand by it.”

The Foreign Office’s top civil servant, Sir Olly Robbins, was effectively fired after the disclosure around the vetting of Lord Mandelson.

Earlier, Chief Secretary to the Prime Minister Darren Jones said Sir Keir was “furious” that the Foreign Office overruled the recommendation against appointing Lord Mandelson.

The SNP said Mr Sarwar appeared “weak” by refusing to reiterate his call for the Prime Minister to quit.

SNP depute leader Keith Brown said: “Anas Sarwar looks weak and sleekit by repeatedly refusing to back calls for Keir Starmer to go now – following the latest revelations in the Labour Party’s Peter Mandelson scandal.

“Mr Sarwar knows that his reputation has also been fatally damaged as a result of his own bad judgment over embracing his ‘old friend’ Peter Mandelson, despite knowing that Mandelson had maintained his friendship with Jeffrey Epstein, the world’s most notorious paedophile.

“Anas Sarwar cannot continue to dodge scrutiny over his current position on Keir Starmer, which seems to change whenever the wind blows.

“He must make a direct call for Starmer to go today and order his Scottish Labour MPs to do the same – or he will look increasingly feeble compared to the strong and principled leadership of John Swinney.”