'Keir Starmer survives perilous day in Parliament - but the real danger is yet to come'

'Keir Starmer survives perilous day in Parliament - but the real danger is yet to come'The drip drip of questions about Keir Starmer's judgement risks spilling over into something No10 can't mop up as the Peter Mandelson saga looms large over this GovernmentCommentsNewsopinionLizzy Buchan Political Editor19:10, 28 Apr 2026Updated 19:11, 28 Apr 2026View 2 ImagesKeir Starmer is grappling with the Mandelson scandal as nightmare local elections loom(Image: Jeanne Accorsini/SIPA/Shutterstock) Keir Starmer has survived another moment of peril as he struggles to escape the fallout of the Peter Mandelson scandal. ‌ Securing a Commons vote on whether to refer the PM to a parliamentary sleaze inquiry looked like a major coup for the Tories on Monday afternoon. But Downing Street went into fight mode, hammering the phones to MPs and calling in grandees like Gordon Brown to make a public show of support. ‌ By the time Mr Starmer went to make his case to his MPs on Monday evening, it felt like the threat was already fading. Years of reporting from Westminster have taught me that when something big is happening, you can feel it. The atmosphere changes. People stop answering the phone. ‌ Instead, Labour MPs I spoke to were suspicious that the Tories were trying to score political points ahead of the local elections. They were sceptical that a Privileges Committee probe was necessary, when there's already a Foreign Affairs Committee inquiry. Fed up as they might be, they weren't prepared to hand Kemi Badenoch a victory. READ MORE: 16 key points from Morgan McSweeney's Mandelson grilling from phone theft to betrayalREAD MORE: Keir Starmer sees off bid to trigger Commons sleaze inquiry into Mandelson scandalView 2 ImagesFormer US ambassador Peter Mandelson was sacked last year over his friendship with Jeffrey Epstein(Image: AFP via Getty Images) ‌ Today, the Foreign Affairs Committee grilled two more key players - former Foreign Office boss Sir Philip Barton and the PM's old right-hand man Morgan McSweeney. There were no real bombshells in more than four hours of evidence, leaving No10 insiders breathing a sigh of relief. But strip away the wrangling about process and the central point still remains - that the Prime Minister chose to appoint Lord Mandelson and he is paying the price. Today's battle is won but Mr Starmer has not escaped unscathed. The scandal will rear its head once more when the next tranche of files is published, derailing the Government yet again. ‌ The drip drip of questions about Mr Starmer's judgement risks spilling over into something No10 can't mop up. A small number of MPs gave him a rough ride in the Commons but the mood against him appears to be hardening in the minds of many more. The Commons wasn't full for the debate, as MPs are using every spare moment to campaign for next week's local elections. Labour politicians are out on the doorstep, confronted again and again with voters' frustration and the very real prospect of devastating results at the ballot box. Pollsters have been predicting terrible results for Labour, which could see the party out of power in Wales, relegated to third place in Scotland, and swept away in their northern heartlands by Reform. It is hard to overstate how devastating this would be. Article continues belowSo the PM survives the day but the real moment of danger is yet to come.