Opposition leaders are calling for Keir Starmer to resign over the latest Mandelson vetting revelations.

Is there any way his MPs could force him out?

As the BBC has previously reported, there is not an easy mechanism for Labour MPs to remove a party leader quickly.

If a Labour leader resigns, a leadership contest is automatically triggered.

Labour MPs could initiate a leadership contest if a challenger is backed by at least 20% of the party's MPs - currently that number would be 81.

Other methods such as a confidence vote are not guaranteed to force a leader out of office.

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Paul Seddon
Politics reporter

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Olly Robbins has been asked to give evidence to the Commons foreign affairs committee on Tuesday next week about the vetting process for Lord Mandelson.

In a letter, external published on the committee’s website, Labour MP and committee chair Emily Thornberry said she would like the former top Foreign Office official to respond to the committee’s request by 10am on Monday.

This would allow the sacked civil servant to give his side of the story.

Thornberry said yesterday’s Guardian investigation had “called into question” answers Robbins gave to the committee in a letter in September last year, and his subsequent appearance at the committee after Mandelson had been sacked as US ambassador.

In a September letter to MPs, Robbins told the committee the process “concluded with DV [developed vetting] clearance being granted” by the Foreign Office – but did not mention that vetting officials had recommended against the move.

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Lord Mandelson has been pictured walking his dog this morning in London as the fallout continues over news that he failed his security vetting for the role of US ambassador but the Foreign Office allowed him to take up the post regardless.

He has not publicly commented on the latest revelations over his security vetting.

The BBC understands Mandelson had no knowledge about the judgements reached during his vetting process until it was reported in the media, and that no-one at any level raised anything about it with him following his vetting interview.

More now from Starmer, who's speaking to reporters in Paris.

On Mandelson, Starmer continues: "That I wasn't told that he'd failed security vetting when I was telling Parliament that due process had been followed is unforgivable."

"Not only was I not told, no minister was told and I'm absolutely furious about it."

Starmer says he intends to go to Parliament on Monday to "set out all the relevant facts in true transparency so Parliament has the full picture".

He is asked whether it's believable that a senior civil servant "unilaterally" overruled security vetting to approve a political appointment.

The prime minister insists: "I was not told that he failed security vetting. No minister was told that he failed security vetting, Number 10 wasn't told that he failed security vetting."

"It is totally unacceptable that the prime minister making an appointment is not told that security vetting has been failed," he says.

Prime Minister Keir Starmer says the fact that he "was not told" that Lord Mandelson had failed security vetting is "staggering".

Scotland's first minister has called on the prime minister to resign.

John Swinney says he has no reason to doubt the prime minister’s version of events regarding Lord Mandelson failing vetting, but says the events showed “a staggering level of incompetence”.

He tells BBC Scotland News: “You cannot have someone who’s incompetent being the prime minister, so I think the prime minister has to resign”.

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It emerged late on Thursday that the most senior civil servant in the Foreign Office, Olly Robbins, was leaving his post.

The BBC understands he was effectively sacked after Starmer and Foreign Secretary Yvette Cooper lost confidence in him. We're yet to hear from Robbins directly.

It came after the Guardian reported his department didn't tell Starmer that Lord Mandelson had failed security vetting for the role of US ambassador, and decided to let him take up the role.

Robbins was made permanent under-secretary at the Foreign Office in January 2025. As department leader, this also made him the head of the UK's diplomatic service and the most senior policy adviser to the foreign secretary.

He was previously permanent secretary of the Department for Exiting the European Union in 2016, and Theresa May's Europe adviser from 2017-19, overseeing Brexit negotiations.

He'd also served as principal private secretary for Tony Blair and then Gordon Brown.

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“All roads lead to resignation” says Conservative leader Kemi Badenoch, who claims it’s “simply not possible” Starmer wasn’t aware Lord Mandelson had failed his vetting process.

The situation shows “catastrophically poor judgement” on a matter of national security, says Liberal Democrat leader Ed Davey, adding that the evidence suggests Starmer misled the public and Parliament.

There’s “no doubt” the Commons was misled, according to Reform UK leader Nigel Farage, who describes the top Foreign Office official Olly Robbins leaving his role over the matter as a “sacrificial lamb”.

No 10 must “come clean or admit its incompetence,” says Plaid Cymru leader Rhun ap Iorwerth, accusing the prime minister of becoming “distracted from his day job and failing those he serves”.

There’s “no way today should end” without Starmer’s resignation, claims Green Party leader Zack Polanski, branding any other outcome an “absurd scenario”.

The prime minister is either “incompetent, gullible or a liar”, according to the SNP’s Westminster leader Stephen Flynn - “or all three”.

• As a reminder: No 10's position is that Starmer did not know Mandelson had failed the vetting process until this week and has since asked the Foreign Office to investigate how and why Mandelson was given clearance.

Lord Mandelson, Starmer's pick for US ambassador, was sacked seven months into the job over his ties to the late convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein.

Mandelson has long argued that he accepted Epstein and his lawyer's version of events, and only discovered the truth after his death in 2019. The BBC understands his position is he has not acted in any way criminally and that he was not motivated by financial gain.

The prime minister is facing calls to resign amid claims he misled MPs when he told them "full due process" had been followed over Lord Mandelson's appointment as US ambassador.

Starmer is travelling to Paris today to host joint talks with French President Emmanuel Macron over the conflict in the Middle East.

He is due to give a statement in the Commons on Monday on the Mandelson issue, but before then, it's unclear if we'll hear from him on the matter.

Politicians continue to react to the revelations about Lord Mandelson's vetting. Plaid Cymru leader Rhun ap Iorwerth posts on X that there's "no trust without transparency".

"So many questions remain unanswered and with every passing day the prime minister is distracted from the day job and failing those he serves," he says.

"It’s time for the No10 operation to come clean or admit its incompetence."

The government's position is that Starmer did not know Mandelson had failed his vetting checks until this week and has since asked the Foreign Office to investigate how and why he was given security clearance.

Starmer was said to be "furious" after he found out about the matter.

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Peter Mandelson’s appointment as UK ambassador to the US was announced in December 2024, with him taking the role up two months later.

In between, he underwent a high-level vetting process, carried out by a specialist agency within the Cabinet Office, which includes looking at his credit history and criminal record, as well as undertaking an interview.

His appointment has been under intense scrutiny after Mandelson was sacked seven months into the role over his links with convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein.

Files into his appointment process have been released by the government for transparency.

On Thursday, the Guardian reported that Mandelson failed his security vetting, but the decision was overruled by the Foreign Office so he could take up the role.

Downing Street later confirmed the story and said that Prime Minister Keir Starmer did not know Mandelson had failed his security vetting until earlier this week.

And now the top Foreign Office civil servant Olly Robbins is being pushed out of his role in the fallout.

Starmer has already faced calls to resign over claims that he misled Parliament in September 2025, when he claimed three times that “full due process” had been followed in the appointment.

The latest revelation has renewed calls for him to step down.

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Stephen Flynn, the SNP's leader in Westminster, says in a post on X: "The Prime Minister is either incompetent, gullible or a liar. Or all three."

Flynn said in an earlier post that it's "hard to now accept that Starmer didn’t lie to the Commons" when he said that due process had been followed during Lord Mandelson's appointment as UK ambassador to the US after he failed the vetting process for the role.

A spokesperson said neither Starmer nor any minister were aware Lord Mandelson had failed the vetting process until earlier this week.

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More politicians are reacting to the Foreign Office's top civil servant Olly Robbins leaving his post and the row over Lord Mandelson's appointment .

Green party leader Zack Polanski says "there's no way" today should end without the prime minister's resignation.

In a post on X, he says any other outcome would be "absurd" and it would show Labour "laughing in our faces".

The "ethics and morality" are an important question, he adds.

• A reminder: No 10's position is that Starmer did not know Mandelson had failed the vetting process until this week and has since asked the Foreign Office to investigate how and why Mandelson was given clearance.

Darren Jones, chief secretary to the PM, has been speaking to the BBC Radio 4's Today programme after appearing on BBC Breakfast earlier.

Jones says he has changed the rules to prevent the Foreign Office from being able to overrule a security vetting process.

Jones rejects that Starmer made misleading statements when he previously told the Commons that "due process" was followed in Mandelson's appointment, reiterating that the Foreign Office was allowed to reject security clearance.

Jones says he has now changed the rule that allowed them to do this.

"The fact that that was process that was allowed to happen is quite frankly flabbergasting," he says.

I've heard real anger among Labour MPs over vetting rowpublished at 08:45 BST

08:45 BST

Harry Farley
Political correspondent

It is always a big moment for opposition parties not just to criticise a prime minister but to make the leap to call for them to resign.

That is what happened yesterday.

But the opinions that matter are those held by Labour MPs. They hold Keir Starmer’s fate in their hands. If a significant proportion decide they don’t want him to lead their party, that will be terminal for Starmer.

From conversations I’ve been having with Labour MPs last night and this morning, there is real anger.

In fruitier language than I can write here, one senior MP said the government’s explanation was nonsense and the public was fed up

Another former minister said: “The explanation being put forward stretches credibility to almost breaking point.” They went on to say that if it was the other side of the crucial May elections "it would be terminal but could still be now”.

That is the key point. The prospect of those elections - now less than three weeks’ away - and the perilous situation in the Middle East seems to be, for now, dampening the simmering fury on the Labour backbenches.

That could change of course. And the risk for Keir Starmer is that - whether before or after the May elections - this is another episode that fans the flames of that anger and it boils over into a leadership challenge.

The latest news over Lord Mandelson's failure in the high-level vetting process follows after a spate of controversies surrounding the former ambassador.

He was pulled from the role when the extent of his relationship with convicted sex offender Jeffery Epstein was revealed, and later arrested by police on suspicion of misconduct in public office.

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Reform UK leader Nigel Farage has also joined calls for the prime minister to resign.

He tells news outlet LBC that "not a single word" Darren Jones - the prime minister's chief secretary - has said this morning is "believable". Jones earlier told the BBC that Starmer did not mislead Parliament and did not know about the failure of Lord Mandelson's vetting.

"It is totally unbelievable," Farage says, and describes Olly Robbins - the top official at the Foreign Office who is leaving his role as a result - as the "sacrificial lamb".

He describes Robbins as one of the most professional civil servants in the UK and says there is "no way" he would have decided to lie to Starmer over the vetting failure.

Farage says he is in "no doubt" that Starmer misled the House of Commons.

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MPs are continuing to react to the latest news about the government's appointment of Lord Mandelson as the UK's ambassador to the US in 2024.

Next up, Conservative leader Kemi Badenoch says she genuinely believes the PM is lying about not knowing Lord Mandelson had failed his vetting process.

"It is completely preposterous that the prime minister, the former chief prosecutor of this country, did not ask basic questions, did not ask to look at the security vetting himself," she tells Radio 4's Today programme. "I'm afraid that it is simply not possible."

She also accuses him of breaching ministerial code, by misleading parliament that due process had been followed in Mandelson's appointment.

"All roads lead to resignation," she says.

• A reminder: No 10's position is that Starmer did not know Mandelson had failed the vetting process until this week and has since asked the Foreign Office to investigate how and why Mandelson was given security clearance.

Darren Jones, chief secretary to the prime minister, has just been speaking to BBC Breakfast.

Asked if the prime minister is going to resign, or whether he's considered it, Jones says "no". He goes on to say the PM has not knowingly or unknowingly misled Parliament.

This is because UK Security Vetting undertake their investigations and then make a recommendation to the department, who can reject the recommendation, which is the process that is allowed to be followed, he explains.

Jones says it is "astonishing" the Foreign Office "was allowed" to overrule the recommendation that Mandelson shouldn't be given his security clearance.

Pushed further on whether Starmer misled Parliament, Jones again says he has not, as Starmer was told by the Foreign Office that Mandelson had been given security clearance.

The government became aware that Mandelson failed after they recently asked to see the UK Security Vetting recommendations to the Foreign Office, Jones says.