THE political crisis engulfed Labour PM Keir Starmer yesterday over ‘being incompetent, gullible or a liar’, and misleading parliament over the appointment of Peter Mandelson as UK ambassador to the USA.
With the leaders of all the other parties in parliament demanding his resignation, Darren Jones, Starmer’s chief secretary, flayed about defending his boss. He denied all accusations of Starmer’s foreknowledge of Mandelson’s failed vetting for the UK ambassador’s job on BBC Radio 4 Today, yesterday.
Starmer himself whined that ‘keeping me in the dark is unforgivable’. Speaking in Paris about Mandelson, he said: ‘I wasn’t told that he’d failed security vetting. The fact that I was telling Parliament that due process had been followed is unforgivable.’
However, Tory leader Kemi Badenoch claimed that: ‘The Prime Minister appointed Peter Mandelson before the vetting had been completed, vetting Mandelson failed. Starmer then said full due process was followed. That is misleading Parliament.’
Foreign Office chief Ollie Robbins was sacked by Starmer and Foreign Secretary Yvette Cooper on Thursday night due to their loss of confidence in him.’
What Jones revealed in his convoluted excuses for his boss’s ignorance, is that any job-vetting decision by the security services is subject to a final decision by the Foreign Office, a procedure which was considered proper and normal, and that the FO was under no obligation to inform ministers of this.
In which case, why was Ollie Robbins sacrificed for doing his job? Starmer is now facing calls to resign from all three of Britain’s main opposition leaders, who have accused him of dismissing Robbins to save his own political skin.
Despite Jones claiming he cancelled the FO override veto of security decisions yesterday, he has revealed the fraud of parliamentary democracy and the underlying dictatorship of the capitalist state.
As the continuing collapse of the British economy deepens, breaking up the old forms of rule, Labour MPs yesterday voted to raid UK workers’ private pensions to fund risky investments in unlisted UK companies and start-ups – to ‘grow’ the UK economy, despite an industry backlash.
Labour has forced through plans to take control of people’s pensions in a crucial House of Commons vote, approving a so-called ‘reserve power’ allowing ministers to order pension schemes to invest £400bn of retirement savings in private markets and other assets.
The controversial dictatorial measure provoked uproar when it was first proposed last summer, with pensions professionals saying it would put retirements at risk, and take investment decisions out of the hands of trustees and investment experts.
In May 2025, the government signed the Mansion House Accord with 17 major providers, which control 90 per cent of pension savings. Each signatory agreed to invest at least 10 per cent of their assets in private markets, including 5 per cent in Britain, by 2035.
However, ministers announced the following month that they would retain a reserve power, also known as ‘mandation’, to force providers into investments if the agreement failed.
In desperation, the Labour government is lashing out in all directions to enforce the capitalist crisis onto the working class; from rocketing inflation, to spending cuts to social services and thousands of staff cuts in the NHS, plus mass sackings throughout the UK university sector.
The government has also signed a deal with big Pharma and the US which will cost the NHS up to £5bn more for medicine costs. It is also massively increasing military spending to fund the wars in Ukraine and the war against Iran.
The issue is not just sacking Starmer, but of removing his government and the whole state apparatus that runs capitalism!
Workers must mobilise to force their trade union leaders to recall the TUC General council to organise a general strike to remove this reactionary pro-business government and form a workers’ government, to nationalise the big industries and banks, and bring in socialism. This is the only solution to the capitalist crisis. Join the Workers Revolutionary Party and Young Socialists today to build the leadership to take this struggle forward!
