PMQs live: Keir Starmer says Peter Mandelson ‘lied repeatedly’ over Epstein links

Key events

Show key events only

Please turn on JavaScript to use this feature

Starmer sidesteps question about whether he agrees with Polish PM about Epstein being possible Russian spy

Ed Davey, the Lib Dem leader, says Starmer has admitted that he knew Mandelson’s links with Epstein continued after his conviction. Did the PM think about the victims when he appointed Mandelson?

Starmer says he expressed concern the victims in his opening statement today.

Davey calls for a public inquiry. The Polish governemnt think Epstein may have been spying for the Russians. Does the PM worry that Mandelson may have been leaking to a Russian agent?

Starmer says the criminal investigation will follow the evidence wherever it goes.

Starmer confirms he still has confidence in Morgan McSweeney

Badenoch says the cabinet secretary is not independent.

She says the PM should agree to the ISC deciding what gets released.

And she asks if Starmer still has confidence in Morgan McSweeney, the Downing Street chief of staff.

Starmer says of course he has confidence in McSweeney.

And he criticises Badenoch for questioning the integrity of the cabinet secretary, Chris Wormald.

Badenoch says the national security problem was Mandelson being appointed in the first place.

She claims humble addresses already include a national security exemption.

And she says the PM has included an international relations exemption – when the whole appointment was about international relations.

She asks if the PM will agree to the intelligence and security committee (ISC) deciding what should be released.

Starmer says the cabinet secretary will decide what gets released.

And he says only material prejudicial to international relations will be excluded – not all material relating to international relations.

He says Badenoch does seem to have accepted the first exemption, on national security.

Badenoch says Starmer’s reply was “shocking”.

She asks if Starmer can guarantee that Labour MPs who vote against the government today won’t lose the whip.

Starmer says when he was in opposition and tabled humble address motions, he always included exemptions for national security.

Badenoch says Starmer should have known Mandelson’s friendship with Epstein continued after Epstein was convicted. It was “on Google”, she says.

Starmer says it was known that the friendship continued, and that is why Mandelson was asked about it duing vetting. Mandelson misrepresented the friendship, he says.

Starmer does not deny knowing that Mandelson stayed friends with Epstein after his first child sex conviction

Badenoch says Starmer did not answer the question. Did he know Mandelson’s friendship with Epstein has continued.

Starmer says he did not know the extent of that friendship.

(It is a matter of public record that the friendship continued, because the FT ran a story about Mandelson staying in Epstein’s flat after the first convicton.)

He says he accepts the Tory humble address, with exemptions.

But he says the police have been in touch with No 10 to make sure material prejudicial to a trial is not released.

Starmer says Mandelson has been stripped of role as privy counsellor

Kemi Badenoch says all MPs will be disgusted by the lastet Jeffrey Epstein revelations. But the decision to appoint Peter Mandelson as an ambassador reflects on the PM’s judgment. Was he aware that Mandelson had continued his friendship with Epstein after Epstein’s first conviction?

Starmer says Mandelson betrayed his country and his party by leaking secrets. He lied before the appointment process. The government has referred him to the police. He says he has asked officials to draft legislation to stop Mandelson of his title.

This morning he has agreed with the king that Mandelson will be removed from the list of privy counsellors.

Johanna Baxter (Lab) refers to the government’s Pride in Place programme, and accuses the SNP of not supporting it. This has led Paisley down, she says.

Starmer says Baxter is a super champion for Paisley. He says 14 Scottish communities have benefited from the Pride in Place programme.

Keir Starmer starts by saying it is world cancer day, and the national cancer plan is being published. He says it will lead to faster diagnosis and treatment. And treatment-related costs for child cancer patients will be covered.

Starmer faces Badenoch at PMQs

PMQs is starting soon. Here is the list of MPs down to ask a question.

PMQs Photograph: HoC

Lee Anderson dismisses evidence Reform UK's pub plan 'doesn't add up', telling BBC he's 'not interested' in debating costings

The Reform UK MP Lee Anderson has dismissed claims that his party’s plan to support the pub industry would cost far more than the £3bn it claims.

At a news conference yesterday, Anderson and Nigel Farage unveiled the plan, saying they would fund the £3bn programme by keeping in place the two-child benefit cap for most families. Labour is legislating to get rid of the cap.

Reform’s five-point plan includes halving VAT for the hospitality sector. An analysis by the IPPR, a left-leaning thinktank, says this alone would cost £5.6bn.

In an interview on the Today programme, when it was put to Anderson that his sums did not add up, Anderson claimed that was “absolute nonsense”.

When the presenter, Jonny Dymond, said that halving VAT for hospitality would cost around £5.5bn, and that the BBC had not found anyone who accepted the Reform figures, Anderson replied:

To be honest with you, we’re not interested in who you’ve been talking to. We’re more interested who we’ve been talking to, and we’ve been talking to landlords and small businesses up and down the country, and every landlord that I speak to … they want this VAT cut.

When Dymond challenged him again, Anderson replied:

We can go on all day about the numbers. I’m not interested in the numbers that the BBC have sourced. You’re hardly a bastion of truth at the BBC when it comes to things like this.

Dymond was referring to IPPR figures. This morning the thinktank has restated its criticism of the Reform plans. The IPPR says:

This doesn’t add up. This is an unfunded tax cut which also pushes hundreds of thousands of children into poverty.

Reform says that reinstating the two-child limit for most, but not all, families would save £2.29bn in 2026/27. The party claims its package of tax cuts would also cost £2.29bn – making it cost neutral – with the bulk coming from a proposal to halve VAT on hospitality, which it estimates would cost £1.7bn.

However, even allowing for increased demand from lower prices, halving VAT would cost £5.6bn – substantially more than the £1.7bn set out in the proposals, and far more than would be saved by reinstating the two-child limit.

The IPPR has also published a more detailed note on its analysis here.

Lee Anderson speaking at the Reform UK press conference yesterday. Photograph: Lucy North/PA

Tories says national security exemption to Mandelson files release should not be used to protect PM from embarrassment

Kevin Hollinrake, the Conservative party chair, told the Today programme this morning that he was glad Keir Starmer was “caving in” today and accepting that some documents relating to Peter Mandelson’s appointment as an ambassador should be released.

Starmer should never have appointed Mandelson in the first place, he said.

The reality is Keir Starmer knew he was appointing one of the dodgiest people in politics to the role of ambassador to the US – one of the best jobs in politics. He knew of his background and he knew of his relationship with Epstein and he still pushed ahead and appointed him.

Asked about the exemptions to the Tory motion proposed by the government (see 8.54am), Hollinrake said it would be wrong for anything to be held back “just because it might embarrass Keir Starmer or the Labour government”.

He said national security would be an acceptable reason for some material to be held back. But that should not be used as a “smokescreen”, he said.

(Critics would argue that Hollinrake’s party also appointed “one of the dodgiest people in politics” to an even more senior post – when they made Boris Johnson prime minister.)

Kemi Badenoch has said that her humble address motion is intended to end the “cover-up” over Peter Mandelson’s appointment as an ambassador. In a post on social media, she said:

Today MPs have a choice: support our efforts to reveal the truth about how & why Mandelson was appointed Ambassador despite his links to paedophile Epstein; or they can help Starmer and Morgan McSweeney dodge scrutiny over this sordid affair.

This cover up has gone on too long.

Labour MP Andy McDonald says he may vote with Tories against PM's exemptions to Mandelson files release order

The Labour MP Andy McDonald, a leftwinger, has said that he might vote with the Conservatives against the government’s amendment to the humble address motion (see 8.54am and 10.09am) because he is worried it will lead to too many of the Peter Mandelson files not being published.

Speaking on Sky News, McDonald said:

I’ve seen the amendment and it brings in issues of national security, international relations and foreign affairs … If this amendment were to stand at face value, it would be to throw a cloak over the entire Mandelson affair.

McDonald said he would “probably” vote with the Tories on this.

Other Labour MPs may be feeling the same way. How they vote may depend on the assurances given by the minister speaking in the debate, and whether he or she can persuade MPs that the government does not intend to use the national security and international relations exemptions as an excuse to hold back a lot of information that parliament would like to see.

Starmer should not use 'international relations' exemption as excuse for Mandelson files 'cover-up', SNP says

Libby Brooks is the Guardian’s Scotland correspondent.

The SNP’s Westminster leader Stephen Flynn has warned Keir Starmer against “a Labour party cover-up” over the hiring of Peter Mandelson as US ambassador, after the prime minister tabled an amendment to a parliamentary motion that would enable him to keep back documents relating to national security.

Describing the government as being “in panic mode”, Flynn told BBC Radio Scotland:

They’ve put forward an amendment, which suggests they’ll give as much information as they can unless it impacts national security or international relations. Well I hate to break it to the government but being an ambassador is intrinsically linked to international relations, so they should not be allowed to be the arbiters of this.

If they have any concerns regarding national security then there are independent processes through parliament where parliamentarians can still get access to that information. So there should be absolutely nowhere for the UK government to hide in relation to the vetting procedures that led up to Peter Mandelson becoming the UK’s ambassador to the United States of America.

Flynn said Mandelson’s hiring showed that the prime minster was “completely out of touch with reality”.

Everyone across these isles right now is dwelling very heavily on the prime minister’s judgment - or lack of ... The prime minister, despite knowing all of this, still decided to appoint this man as our representative in the United States of America and I think that alone is unforgivable.

Here is Ben Quinn and Jessica Elgot’s story about the government agreeing to release files relating to Mandelson’s appointment as ambassador to the US – subject to an exemption for information relating to national security and international relations.

Starmer says his brother's death from cancer 'hit me like a bus' as he promotes national cancer plan

Keir Starmer has posted this on social media about why the national cancer plan matters to him personally.

I lost my brother to cancer.

I was with him when he was told his diagnosis – a moment I will never forget. Throughout, the NHS respected and cared for him.

When he passed away, it hit me like a bus – even though I knew it was coming.

I’m determined that every person diagnosed with cancer gets the best possible chance of beating it.

Our National Cancer Plan is the most ambitious in a generation. It means earlier diagnosis, slashing waiting lists and investing in cutting-edge technology to build an NHS fit for the future.

Streeting says Labour members feel 'bitterly' betrayed by Mandelson

Wes Streeting, the health secretary, has been giving interviews this morning on behalf of the government. He was supposed to be talking about the national cancer plan (see 9.32am), but he ended up taking a lot of questions about Peter Mandelson. He told Times Radio that people in the Labour party felt “bitterly” betrayed by Mandelson.

You can see the outrage across the political spectrum and from people up and down our country.

I cannot state strongly enough how bitterly that betrayal feels for those of us in the Labour party who feel very personally let down and also feel that he, as well as betraying two prime ministers, betraying our country and betraying Epstein’s victims, has fundamentally betrayed our values and the things that motivate us and the things that brought us into politics, which is public service and national interest, not self-service and self-interest.

Three-quarters of cancer patients in England will survive by 2035, government pledges

Three in four cancer patients in England will beat cancer under government plans to raise survival rates, as figures reveal someone is now diagnosed every 75 seconds in the UK. As Andrew Gregory reports, today the government is publishing its national cancer plan and in it ministers will pledge £2bn to resolve the crisis by transforming cancer services, with millions of patients promised faster diagnoses, quicker treatment and more support to live well.

PM agrees to release some files on Mandelson appointment

Good morning. The government has agreed to release potentially a large amount of information relating to how Peter Mandelson came to be appointed ambassador to Washington. The decision marks a win for Kemi Badenoch, who forced this decision by tabling a humble address motion in the Commons which the government does not have the confidence to fully oppose.

Ironically, it was Keir Starmer himself who encouraged the use of the parliamentary weapon that Badenoch is using. Opposition parties can table motions for debate, but most of them are not binding. However, if they table a humble address (“That an humble address be presented to His Majesty, that he will be graciously pleased to give directions to require the government to lay before this house all papers relating to” etc), and it passes, the government has to compy.

In 2017 Starmer, the then shadow Brexit secretary, won a humble address vote that forced the release of documents relating to the economic impact of Brexit. It was the first time for years the device had been used successfully. Since then humble addresses have become almost commonplace.

Here is the motion tabled by the Conservatives for debate today.

That an humble address be presented to His Majesty, that he will be graciously pleased to give directions to require the government to lay before this house all papers relating to Lord Mandelson’s appointment as His Majesty’s ambassador to the United States of America, including but not confined to the Cabinet Office due diligence which was passed to Number 10, the conflict of interest form Lord Mandelson provided to the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO), material the FCDO and the Cabinet Office provided to UK security vetting about Lord Mandelson’s interests in relation to Global Counsel, including his work in relation to Russia and China, and his links to Jeffrey Epstein, papers for, and minutes of, meetings relating to the decision to appoint Lord Mandelson, electronic communications between the prime minister’s chief of staff and Lord Mandelson, and between ministers and Lord Mandelson, in the six months prior to his appointment, minutes of meetings between Lord Mandelson and ministers in the six months prior to his appointment, all information on Lord Mandelson provided to the prime minister prior to his assurance to this house on 10 September 2025 that ‘full due process was followed during this appointment’, electronic communications and minutes of all meetings between Lord Mandelson and ministers, government officials and special advisers during his time as ambassador, and the details of any payments made to Lord Mandelson on his departure as ambassador and from the civil service.

The government has a working majority of 168 and, in theory, the PM could have just ordered his MPs to vote this down. For obvious reasons, he has concluded that would not be acceptable to Labour MPs. So the government has decided it will accept most of this; it has tabled its own amendment, saying it agrees to publish all of this “except papers prejudicial to UK national security or international relations”.

Potentially, that could be a very large exemption. And ultimately it will be the cabinet secretary who will decide what gets released if the motion, as amended, is passed (which seems inevitable). Some humble addresses have resulted in significant information being released, but in 2022, after MPs voted for a humble address asking for the release of information relating to Boris Johnson’s decision to give a peerage to his friend Evgeny Lebedev, despite the security services having some misgivings about this, the government mostly ignored the vote, and only released a few pages of largely irrelevant information.

Here is the agenda for the day.

9.45am: Wes Streeting, the health secretary, launches the national cancer plan at the Royal Free hospital.

10am: Shabana Mahmood, the home secretary, gives evidence to the Commons home affairs committee.

Noon: Keir Starmer faces Kemi Badenoch at PMQs.

After 12.30pm: MPs debate the Tory humble address motion that would force the release of government information relating to the appointment of Peter Mandelson as ambassador to the US. The votes on the motion, and the government amendmernt, will come at about 4pm.

2pm: Streeting takes part in an LBC phone-in.

If you want to contact me, please post a message below the line when comments are open (between 10am and 3pm), or message me on social media. I can’t read all the messages BTL, but if you put “Andrew” in a message aimed at me, I am more likely to see it because I search for posts containing that word.

If you want to flag something up urgently, it is best to use social media. You can reach me on Bluesky at @andrewsparrowgdn.bsky.social. The Guardian has given up posting from its official accounts on X, but individual Guardian journalists are there, I still have my account, and if you message me there at @AndrewSparrow, I will see it and respond if necessary.

I find it very helpful when readers point out mistakes, even minor typos. No error is too small to correct. And I find your questions very interesting too. I can’t promise to reply to them all, but I will try to reply to as many as I can, either BTL or sometimes in the blog.