Keir Starmer sparked laughter in the House of Commons after saying he knows MPs will find the “facts” on Peter Mandelson’s vetting “to be incredible.”
On Monday afternoon, the prime minister addressed the Commons following the revelation that Mandelson failed security vetting before becoming US ambassador.
During his address, Starmer said he should not have appointed Mandelson as ambassador and apologised to the victims of Jeffrey Epstein who were “clearly failed by my decision.”
The PM said if he had known about the fact Mandelson had failed the vetting, he would not have gone ahead with the appointment.
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Starmer reiterated that he had not been made aware about the vetting decision by the Foreign Office, something he described as “staggering.”
Towards the end of his statement, Starmer said he was aware that “many members across the House will find these facts to be incredible.”
This prompted loud laughter from the opposite benches, as Starmer continued: “To that I can only say they are right.
“It beggars belief that throughout the whole timeline of events, officials in the Foreign Office saw fit to withhold this information from the most senior ministers in government.
“That is not how the vast majority of people in this country expect this government to work.”