Two MPs ejected from Commons for accusing Keir Starmer of ‘lying’ over Mandelson

Lee Anderson and Zarah Sultana were both ordered to leave the chamber by Commons Speaker Sir Lindsay Hoyle.

Reform UK MP Lee Anderson and Your Party’s Zarah Sultana have both been removed from the House of Commons for accusing Sir Keir Starmer of lying during a statement from the Prime Minister on the appointment of Lord Peter Mandelson as US ambassador.

Mr Anderson (Ashfield) was told to leave by the Commons Speaker, and did so after he said Sir Keir had been “lying” throughout the scandal.

Later Ms Sultana refused Sir Lindsay’s initial offer to depart after calling Sir Keir a “bare-faced liar”. She faced the procedure of being “named” by the Commons Speaker. This can lead to a suspension.

The House of Commons’ rules prevent MPs from accusing one another of telling lies, or deliberately misleading one another.

Mr Anderson, the MP for Ashfield, told the Commons that Sir Keir had “been lying” during the Lord Mandelson saga.

He told the Commons: “The problem the Prime Minister’s got is no one believes him. The public don’t believe him. The MPs on this side of the House don’t believe him. His own gullible backbenchers don’t believe him.

“So does the Prime Minister agree with me, he’s been lying?”

Sir Lindsay intervened to ask Mr Anderson to withdraw his comments. He said: “Sorry, we don’t use those words, and I’m sure the member’s withdrawn it.”

Mr Anderson replied: “Mr Speaker, I have the greatest respect for you and your office, but I will not withdraw it. That man couldn’t lie straight in bed.”

Sir Lindsay said: “Mr Anderson, you’ll have to leave.”

Meanwhile Ms Sultana, a former Labour Party MP who resigned from Labour and co-founded Your Party in July last year, went further as she accused him of “gaslighting the nation”.

She said: “We all know that the Prime Minister appointed Mandelson because he owes his job to him. He appointed him, he defended him, and now he claims to know nothing.

“He is gaslighting the nation. So let’s call this out for what it is. The Prime Minister is a bare-faced liar.”

Sir Lindsay said: “Leave now, I’ll name you otherwise, I’d go now if I were you.

“I’ve given the option to name. I’d leave if I were you, very quickly.”

Ms Sultana attempted to interject and said: “I have a duty to the House to tell the truth.”

Sir Lindsay then held a vote, brought by Government whip Gen Kitchen which said: “I beg to move that Zarah Sultana be suspended from the services of the House.”

MPs voted in favour.

“Leave, I’m sorry you’ve done this, I really am,” Sir Lindsay said.

The last MPs to be “named” and suspended from the Commons were Alba Party MPs Neale Hanvey and Kenny MacAskill, who held a protest during Prime Minister’s Questions in favour of Scottish independence in July 2022.

Sir Keir used Monday afternoon’s appearance in the Commons to set out a timeline of who within Government knew what, and when, about the fact that Lord Mandelson failed a security vetting process to become ambassador to Washington DC, but was still appointed after an intervention by Foreign Office officials.

The Prime Minister told MPs it was “staggering” that he was not told Lord Mandelson had failed vetting checks and said Parliament should have known about it “a long time ago”.

The Prime Minister said Foreign Office officials had approved Lord Mandelson’s developed vetting status, enabling him to see secret information as ambassador to the US, despite the recommendation of security experts not to grant clearance.

Sir Keir said he would not have proceeded with the appointment of Lord Mandelson if he had known UK Security Vetting (UKSV), the agency responsible for conducting assessments, had declined to approve the peer.

The Prime Minister effectively fired the Foreign Office’s top civil servant Sir Olly Robbins after finding out last week that Lord Mandelson’s vetting status had been granted despite failing the UKSV check.

But Sir Keir said he took personal responsibility for the ultimate decision to appoint the former Cabinet minister to the Washington post.

Lord Mandelson was sacked in September last year after revelations about the extent of his relationship with disgraced paedophile financier Jeffrey Epstein.