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Why Starmer still can't move on from the Mandelson mess

Starmer's 'Mr Rules' persona - as one ally says: "It's so painful to Keir, who prides himself to be a person of integrity - and this is just wiping that away in the eyes

Lonely at the top: who are Keir Starmer’s allies as daunting May elections loom?

Keir Starmer](https://www.theguardian.com/politics/keir-starmer) needs real allies. And here, at least, there is something to feel positive about. If you talk to most [Labour](https://www.theguardian.com/politics/labour) MPs, Starmer most likely will not lead

Starmer faces Commons showdown over Mandelson vetting scandal

Labour](https://www.theguardian.com/politics/labour) MPs finally lose faith. “We just don’t know how it will all play out, but all roads lead back to the original sin: Keir’s decision to appoint Peter Mandelson

Watch: Reporter told to pose as gay for asylum claim

Labour, which took the Greater Manchester seat with more than 50% of the vote in 2024, was pushed into third place. Politics](/news/videos/ceqv07zn94wo) [![Close up of Hannah Spencer as she delivers speech after

Keir Starmer vows to lead Labour into next general election after bruising week

Keir Starmer has said he will lead Labour into the next general election as his Downing Street allies denied claims of any wrongdoing over the appointment and vetting of [Peter Mandelson](https://www.theguardian.com/politics/peter-mandelson)

Starmer could have been told about Mandelson’s vetting failure, claims No 10 with release of briefing paper – UK politics live

Keir Starmer may be finished off by what happens in the Commons today. Since the revelations in the Guardian last week about [Peter Mandelson](https://www.theguardian.com/politics/peter-mandelson) in effect failing security vetting for his appointment

Jennie Formby, Labour’s former general secretary, says she has joined Greens

ally of Corbyn to defect to the Greens, even as the former Labour leader tries to establish Your Party, his own leftwing alternative to Labour. The defection of figures such as Formby, the former Labour

Relish and dread as Starmer 'shambles' hangs over Scotland and Wales elections

Keir Starmer a good prime minister, I ask Welsh First Minister Morgan? There's a tiny, but telling pause, before her more diplomatic than enthusiastic answer. "He's helped us in Wales." She then talks

Wales’s first minister calls on Keir Starmer to halt US-UK space defence project

Keir Starmer to suspend a big joint defence project with the US, saying that under [Donald Trump](https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/donaldtrump) the country is “not the partner it once was”. In a statement on Wednesday, Labour

Thursday briefing: ​Why the US president is losing support from crucial allies

Keir Starmer was looking increasingly isolated over the Peter Mandelson scandal as the Guardian learned of [concerns around the cabinet table](https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2026/apr/22/olly-robbins-starmer-sacking-ministers-cabinet-meeting), a senior minister refused to say the dismissal of Olly Robbins

‘It’s Andy or bust’: could Burnham’s return to parliament save Starmer?

Keir Starmer](https://www.theguardian.com/politics/keir-starmer) is looking for a saviour to keep him in No 10 after the May elections and the scandal of the Mandelson saga, there is an unlikely figure in the north

Olly Robbins is just the latest: a guide to the high-profile exits under Starmer’s tenure

Keir Starmer’s two-year tenure as prime minister. Here we take a look at some of the most high-profile resignations since Starmer came to power. ## Officials 1. --- ### Sue Gray Gray was the prime

How safe is Starmer’s premiership after his Mandelson vetting statement to MPs?

Keir Starmer’s No 10 have often urged the prime minister to be more forceful in his arguments, to prosecute his values, to find an enemy to define himself against. The prime minister has found

Britain’s military dependence on US ‘no longer tenable’, says former Nato chief

Labour defence minister and Nato secretary general, highlighted Trump’s unprovoked attack on Iran, his decision to levy tariffs on traditional allies and, “most jarringly”, the threat to wrest Greenland from Denmark. “All of these

UK seeks closer EU ties in volatile times - but at what cost?

Keir Starmer has promised to reduce post-Brexit red tape and costs for UK companies doing business with the UK's biggest export market, the EU. By this summer, and the second post-Brexit

Starmer is facing his judgment day over Mandelson missteps

Keir Starmer has spent much of the last 24 hours working on a plan for what senior government figures are already describing as his “judgment day”: his showdown with MPs on Monday over the [latest

Robbins says officials considered withholding Mandelson vetting files from parliament

Keir Starmer as the Foreign Office’s top civil servant last week, appeared to confirm a [report in the Guardian](https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2026/apr/16/officials-debate-withholding-mandelson-vetting-documents-from-parliament) that senior officials were debating whether to withhold from parliament sensitive documents

Starmer would have blocked Mandelson role over vetting failure, says Lammy

Keir Starmer would have blocked Peter Mandelson from serving as the UK’s ambassador to Washington had he known he failed [security vetting](https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2026/apr/17/what-happens-security-vetting-peter-mandelson), David Lammy has said, as he attempted to shore

Boosting military spending by slashing welfare is not the answer, senior Labour figures warn Reeves

Keir Starmer said he did not agree with the comments from Robertson, a former Labour defence secretary who [co-authored a defence review](https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2025/jun/02/strategic-defence-review-key-points-threats-new-weapons-more-troops) for the government. The prime minister insisted defence spending

Officials deliberately withheld Mandelson vetting result from me, Starmer says

Starmer has accused officials in the Foreign Office of deliberately and repeatedly withholding the fact Lord Mandelson initially failed security vetting for the role of US ambassador. Giving a statement to MPs, the prime minister