An extraordinary PMQs as Starmer makes feelings of betrayal clearpublished at 12:57 GMT
12:57 GMT
Chris Mason
Political editor
Sir Keir Starmer is a prime minister who is wary of superlatives and almost preternaturally inclined not to show emotion in public.
This is what made Prime Minister’s Questions today so extraordinary — the volley after volley of superlatives of disgust and betrayal and the clear anger in Starmer’s tone.
He “lied, lied and lied again” claimed the prime minister.
There was a “litany of deceit,” his behaviour was “beyond infuriating” and Mandelson had betrayed his party, parliament and the country, he added.
The government is desperate to bury Mandelson under a pile of opprobrium visible from space — and that anger and sense of betrayal is authentic. I have heard it face to face and over the phone from Labour figures in the last day or so.
But the question remains – and will be repeated no doubt many times in the chamber this afternoon – what did the prime minister know and when about Lord Mandelson’s conduct, what questions were asked before his appointment to Washington, and what wasn’t?
This is why Mandelson’s conduct still matters for the prime minister’s reputation.
It could yet be weeks or longer before we see some of the documents the government is now saying it will publish about the process that led to Lord Mandelson’s appointment as the ambassador in Washington.