The Conservatives will push for a vote on referring Sir Keir Starmer to the Commons Privileges Committee to investigate whether he knowingly misled Parliament, according to the Shadow Defence Secretary.
James Cartlidge told GB News: “My concern is for the country at large, because we have a situation which I’m bound to say, war on two fronts, probably the most heightened military tension we’ve had in the world since the fall of the Berlin Wall, and we have a government which is deeply distracted and deeply divided, and I think that this isn’t good for the country at a time when we need strong leadership. We’re just not getting that.
“There’s now a lot of attention on who comes next, if indeed the Prime Minister is going to go, my suspicion is this will not happen particularly quickly, but let’s see. What matters, from our point of view, is that the government actually grips the challenges the country is facing at home and abroad.”
He added: “We as MPs are very fortunate under the Bill of Rights, which goes back centuries, we have the right to speak in Parliament without fear of being sued for what we say. We have to have that otherwise we couldn’t hold others to account.
“But it comes with responsibility, and the responsibility is to tell the truth and not knowingly mislead. I find it astonishing to believe that Keir Starmer thinks he followed due process in the appointment of Peter Mandelson to this most sensitive position, the ambassador to Washington, especially with the global situation as it is with war on two fronts and so on.
“We will be hoping to hold him to account for that. Obviously, it’s a matter for the Speaker how that progresses, but absolutely, we are determined to do our job as the official Opposition to hold the Prime Minister to account.”
On reports that Angela Rayner is plotting to topple the Prime Minister, he said: “If that happens, I do think it will be very serious. Because from what she said so far, it’s not like she’s going to move this country to the centre.
“I think you’ll see more need in free enterprise, and I believe in the idea of balancing the books. Obviously it’s a bit premature, but if we were to have that, I think we’d be needed to oppose that. But let’s see what happens.
“I’ve got a job to do as a Member of Parliament for South Suffolk, serving my constituents, so whoever is Prime Minister, we will hold them to account, and we’ll keep setting out the positive policies we’ve had, policies we’ve had under Kemi Badenoch.
“We’re going to keep doing that, and there’s a lot more to do this week on that front.”
