Minister defends Starmer amid Mandelson revelations, saying vetting decision ‘utterly unacceptable’ – UK politics live

Darren Jones says he has ordered an urgent review into news that the Foreign Office ignored security vetting advice

Kemi Badenoch, the leader of the Conservatives, has told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme that she believes the prime minister is lying in his account of what happened.

It’s completely preposterous for us to believe that when the prime minister said on the floow of the house [of Commons] the full due process was followed that officials who knew that was not the case would not have told him. He knew.

It is preposterous for us to believe that on 5 February, him giving press conference saying that Mandelson was cleared by the security services nobody told him that actually that this was not the case.

We would not have found out about this if not for the Guardian.

The story does not stack up, the prime minister is taking us for fools.

I don’t think the prime minister can get out of his responsibility by sacking Olly Robbins - the buck has to stop with Mr Starmer.

I think frankly it’s inconceivable on such a sensitive matter the permeant secretary at the Foreign Office wouldn’t have referred to ministers on this.

Let’s imagine they are telling the truth and they did only just learn about this on Tuesday what does that say about the Governmenet and how they operate?

It means people around the prime minister were hiding critical information from him and he took this decision without meeting Mandelson, without knowing about his failed security but knowing about Mandelson’s reputation.

It’s hard to believe it was inadvertent, it stretches credibility, but even if that is a true story it shows there was total negligence and incompetence at the top of his government...

The PM held the Conservatives to account when he was in opposition when Boris Johnson was clearly lying over partygate and Keir Starmer called for all the accountability and called for Boris Johnson to go... but I’m afraid now he he has to take his own medicine. All the evidence suggests he has to go.