On 17 April, we learned that Peter Mandelson had failed his security vetting for the ambassador to the US position. As Keir Starmer told parliament that Mandelson had actually passed vetting, this meant the PM misled parliament.

Simple, right?

According to No 10, no.

The line from Starmer’s people was that the PM didn’t know Mandelson failed his vetting, and that actually a rogue minister had obscured this truth from him. This argument seemed completely implausible, and as we covered, it’s failed to stand up.

Now, No 10 is seemingly admitting that Starmer misled parliament.

The caveat is that they still claim he did so unknowingly:

NEW: No 10 has appeared to admit that Keir Starmer unknowingly misled Parliament about Peter Mandelson’s vetting

“The Prime Minister would never knowingly mislead Parliament or the public”

— Politics UK (@PolitlcsUK) April 20, 2026

We call bullshit

Firstly, the timeline of events shows that No 10 should have been aware that Mandelson didn’t pass vetting last year:

Liz Kendall is asked about David Maddox asking Number 10 about Mandelson failing the vetting months ago, despite the PM saying he only found out last week.

Kendall refuses to comment, saying she can’t speak on behalf of number tens director of communications. https://t.co/DzX9KJxMMW pic.twitter.com/pDW1k0ytsc

— Saul Staniforth (@SaulStaniforth) April 19, 2026

They want us to believe that a rogue minister and a rogue press secretary both knew, but neither told Starmer.

And of course, this goes beyond the nonsense of them wanting us to believe that Mandelson could fail his vetting without several individuals and agencies raising massive red flags.

Just what sort of country is Starmer running?

Secondly, the idea that Starmer ‘would never knowingly mislead the public’ is a nonsense. New Labour ghoul Tom Watson discovered what the public think of this claim when he posted the following:

He lied to get elected as Labour leader. Broke all his 10 pledges. https://t.co/a83iQdhPLT

— Mukhtar (@I_amMukhtar) April 17, 2026

The broken promises haven’t stopped now that Starmer’s in office, either, as we reported:

After 18 months in power, Starmer has turned his back on the mandate pledges that granted him office, while his broken promises stack up.https://t.co/VY6hTDrm7M

— Canary (@TheCanaryUK) February 10, 2026

James Wright wrote:

On the pledge sheet sent to Labour members, Starmer promised raising income tax on the top 5% of earners. But in September 2023, the MP for Holborn and St Pancras walked that back, stating there would be no increase. It was a lie and Polanski is right to point this out.

He also pledged “support[ing] the abolition of tuition fees”. Instead, Labour has raised tuition fees by £285 — another lie. This should reduce Starmer’s mandate to tatters and he should be recalled for another election.

It’s increasingly clear that words mean very little to Starmer. He also promised that he would “put the Green New Deal at the heart of everything we do”.

And yet again, in February 2024, the Labour leaderdropped a £28bn per year commitment to green energy. And in government, he’s propping up fossil fuel firms with £22bn for carbon capture projects that don’t even work.

This is who Starmer is

So yes, Starmer absolutely would mislead the public.

In fact, there are very few examples of him being honest with the public.

Let’s hope he finally does the decent thing today and steps down; it will certainly be a first if he does.

Featured image via House of Commons (Flickr)

By Willem Moore

From Canary via This RSS Feed.