Call for vote on inquiry into claims Starmer lied over Mandelson dismissed by Labour grandees – UK politics live

Emily Thornberry says foreign affairs committee already looking into issue and more documents are due to be published

If there is a Commons debate tomorrow on allegations that Keir Starmer lied to MPs about Peter Mandelson’s vetting for his appointment as ambassador to the US, it may coincide with Keir Starmer chairing a meeting of the government’s Cobra emergency committee to discuss the economic consequences of the Iran war. A scheduling clash like that would allow No 10 to make the argument that Starmer is focusing on important issues that matter to voters while the opposition is obsessed with Westminster procedure (although Downing Street would prefer the privileges inquiry debate not to go ahead in the first place).

Starmer announced the Cobra meeting in his speech to the Usdaw conference.

Whatever happens in the Middle East, we’ve cut your energy bills, and we have capped them until July.

Delegates, that’s another thing that I will always stand firm on. I will never let this country be dragged into a war that is not in our interests. Never.

That is a lesson British politics should have learned a long time ago with Iraq.

And yet, when the rush to war began on Iran, I was heavily criticised by others who had no thought for the consequences for our country, for your family.