It will come as no surprise that Keir Starmer appears to have heard a very different evidence session from Sir Olly Robbins to the one everyone else thought the ex Foreign Office mandarin gave yesterday. The Prime Minister arrived in the Commons for questions today convinced that Robbins had in fact largely backed him up, give or take a few quibbles over whether there was a ‘dismissive’ attitude in Downing Street towards Peter Mandelson’s vetting. 

First, though, he had to deal with a question about whether Downing Street had wanted Matthew Doyle to get an ambassadorial post. His lawyerly answer confirmed this at length: ‘Matthew Doyle worked for many years in public service, for me as prime minister and other ministers. When people leave roles in any organisation, there are often conversations about other roles they may wish to apply for, but nothing came of this.’ In short: yes.

Kemi Badenoch was on really strong form today – though she did of course have plenty of material. She chose not to taunt the Prime Minister, other than to point out that even his own cabinet ministers were not defending him. She also did not point out, presumably because she didn’t need to, just how quiet the chamber was for much of their exchanges. Labour MPs couldn’t really cheer along with the Prime........

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