It is the cardinal rule of British politics: never lie to parliament. For, as Boris Johnson found to his cost, the political penalty for ‘misleading the House’ can be fatal. Having shrugged off the abortive Anas Sarwar coup in February, some around Keir Starmer had started daring to hope that, with the outbreak of the Iran crisis, they could begin to chat a course through the next few months. But now the Peter Mandelson scandal has reared its head again, plunging Starmer into peril once more.

This afternoon the Guardian reported that Mandelson failed his security vetting clearance in late 2024 to become the UK ambassador to the US, but the decision was then overruled by the Foreign Office to ensure he could take up his post. Senior figures in No. 10 suggest that the........

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