SIR Keir Starmer must tell “the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth” about the Lord Mandelson vetting failure, the Tories demanded last night.
The PM was told to ditch the evasion as he fights to bring his premiership back from the brink from the debacle of being kept in the dark about the ex-Labour grandee’s security status.
Sir Keir’s make-or-break statement to MPs today comes after he sacked Foreign Office boss Sir Olly Robbins last week for not disclosing Mandelson’s failed vetting test for the US ambassador job.
The PM is already under huge pressure over a slew of policy U-turns, dismal poll ratings and calls for him to resign — but allies have told wannabe leadership challengers to put the country first.
However, in a blistering attack, Tory leader Kemi Badenoch said: “I will be seeking answers to questions to which the British people will rightfully expect complete and truthful responses.
“No more evasion. No more digressions. Parliament and the public will want to hear you give us the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth.”
Ms Badenoch has written to the PM calling for full transparency and accountability, claiming there has been a series of inaccuracies in his public statements.
The PM, who said he did not learn about the failed vetting until Tuesday last week, had previously said that “due process” was followed over the appointment to the Washington DC-based post.
He will also be asked to explain the repeated requests made by No 10 to the Foreign Office about assurances over Mandelson’s suitability for the coveted role.
The Opposition is also furious that the PM did not go to the House of Commons as early as possible to correct the record.
Senior government sources have claimed it was Mandelson’s foreign links that led to a recommendation against his appointment, rather than his friendship with paedophile financier Jeffrey Epstein.
In her letter, Ms Badenoch told the PM: “This has been a tawdry and shaming affair for you and your party, and for this country.”
She claimed that he had damaged the UK’s relationship with the US and insulted Epstein’s victims by hiring Mandelson.
Ms Badenoch went on: “You have also undermined our national security by giving the highest diplomatic post to an individual that the security services found to be of ‘high concern’.”
Mandelson was sacked last year less than 12 months after he was appointed when details emerged of his ties with Epstein.
It was revealed last week that he was not granted developed vetting status during the appointment process but this was overturned by Sir Olly, who did not tell No 10.
However, No 10 believes he had the opportunity to raise the report on four different occasions.
It says it could have been disclosed when he saw the advice or when Mandelson was sacked.
Insiders revealed he could have also raised the issue when the Government was forced to release material on the appointment and also when ministers said they would review security vetting last month.
But he was not stopped by law from “sensibly flagging” recommendations from the vetting body regarding Mandelson’s appointment, a Government document reveals.
Paperwork released last night says there is “nothing in the guidance” that prevented details being shared in the Mandelson scenario.
The law states that civil servants make decisions on vetting and clearance but they can raise recommendations to ministers to make judgments, appointments or even explaining matters to Parliament.
It states that this could have been done in a “proportionate and necessary way” if in line with the appropriate steps.
Sir Olly is expected to give evidence to the Foreign Affairs select committee on Tuesday, while Sir Keir will face MPs in the Commons today.
But he refused to apologise last night for the failings over the vetting process.
He also said it was “unforgivable” that officials in the Foreign Office failed to tell him — and he had said due process had been followed.
He added: “But am I furious that I wasn’t told? Yes, I am. Am I furious that other ministers weren’t told? Yes, I am. I should have been told, and I wasn’t told.”
Technology Secretary Liz Kendall said last night: “Let me tell you right now that with the cost of living crisis people are facing and with the world so uncertain, that’s deeply frightening to people.
“Any politician that focuses more on their future and their job, not on people’s futures and their jobs, will lose the public support.”
Lord Glasman, who founded the influential Blue Labour group, said it was time for the PM to resign.
He said: “If you can’t own your mistakes, you can’t move. All he needed to say was, ‘We made an error’. But he’s completely stuck in saying he hasn’t done anything wrong, so this can’t go away. It’s as straightforward as that, really.”
One Labour MP, pressed on what Sir Keir could do to improve matters, simply said: “Leave the country.”
