BENEATH the looming clock face of Big Ben, the House of Commons descended into political theatre and a bear pit of the highest order earlier this Monday. 

And at its centre stood Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer, battling again to sustain his rapidly evaporating authority, while next month's daunting elections loom.

Drama ignited the moment Starmer rose to defend his decision to appoint former Northern Ireland Secretary Peter Mandelson as UK Ambassador to the United States before he had completed the full vetting process.

Starmer's admission that the situation “beggars belief” and that the appointment had been “wrong” did little to assuage his many critics facing - and behind - him.

He faced and rejected accusations that he had misled parliament, instead pointing to the Foreign Office senior civil servant, Sir Olly Robbins, who was dismissed last week after approving Mandelson’s posting.

Sitting in Commons Gallery, only a few feet from Starmer, with current Northern........

© The Irish Post