The opposition has been furious, and opinion polls show that the British people want to see an investigation into the Prime Minister.
But when the House of Commons debated an inquiry on Tuesday, the chamber was far from full.
Tory Party leader Kemi Badenoch was one of the members who demanded a vote, and actively participated in the debate - with her own contributions and, in the usual House of Commons manner, both heckling and clear approval.
It was “very obvious” that Starmer’s statements in the chamber about the appointment of US Ambassador Mandelson “were not correct,” Badenoch said as she opened the debate.
It is clear that protocol was not followed.
“Political stunt”
Members from the Liberal Democrats, the Reform Party, the Greens and the Scottish SNP all joined the chorus, but they failed to win the vote.
Labour's majority in the House of Commons was too large; when the party whips voted, the 'no' votes were 335 to 223 and Keir Starmer avoided the inquiry.
"The Conservative Party resorted to this desperate political stunt the week before the local elections in May because they have no answers to questions about the cost of living and the healthcare system," Downing Street said in a statement after the vote, according to the BBC.
The scrutiny by the Committee of Privileges, the parliamentary privileges review committee, that Starmer is now avoiding would have concerned whether he misled the House of Commons about Peter Mandelson's security clearance.
Johnson was investigated
Mandelson was appointed US ambassador despite links to notorious sex offender Jeffrey Epstein. He took office in February 2025 but remained in the post for only seven months.
An investigation similar to the one currently under debate was set up in the case of former Prime Minister Boris Johnson for his actions during the Covid pandemic and the so-called "partygate" scandal.
In parallel with the debate, the fired Chief of Staff Morgan McSweeney was questioned by the Foreign Affairs Committee on Tuesday. McSweeney claimed, among other things, that Mandelson withheld information during the security clearance and that the Prime Minister did not grasp the extent of the connections to Epstein.
