Mr Turner, who recently had the Labour whip suspended, said he is ‘confident the committee would have exonerated’ Sir Keir Starmer but Labour MPs faced ‘being accused of voting for a ‘cover up’ which our opponents are excited to prosecute’
Karl Turner MP (Image: UK Parliament)
Karl Turner was among the MPs to vote for a parliamentary investigation into whether the Prime Minister misled the Commons. The Hull East MP, who recently had the Labour whip suspended by the parliamentary party and currently stands as an independent, said he did not believe Sir Keir Starmer had misled MPs over the vetting of Lord Mandelson during his appointment as the UK’s ambassador but, in preventing further scrutiny, “every single one of us will be accused by the electorate of trying to help the Prime Minister when he needed to face the music”.
He argued there was a “very significant difference” between what Sir Keir said on the matter compared with that provided by Sir Olly Robbins, the former top Foreign Office civil servant who was sacked after it emerged his department had granted security clearance to Lord Mandelson despite concerns raised by officials. During a debate in Parliament on Tuesday, Mr Turner defended his long-time friend Sir Keir but said: “I do think that there is a prima facie case for this matter to be investigated and for an inquiry to be conducted by the appropriate Committee of this House”.
He added: “I made a statement on social media that this motion is a stunt. A stunt is defined as an action designed to capture attention, but it is worse than that, actually.
“If I was to be cynical, I think the problem is that the motion is designed to capture Labour MPs. That is my concern. If it is said by our political opponents that Labour MPs came here today to block an inquiry of this House into the leader of the Labour party and Prime Minister, every single one of us will be accused by the electorate of trying to help the Prime Minister when he needed to face the music.”
The Hull East MP also took aim at the political handling of the Mandelson appointment, which has become a lightning rod for criticism. Mr Turner suggested that, while he believes the Prime Minister initially made the appointment in “the national interest”, the subsequent “shenanigans” left him “disappointed” and that Sir Keir should just “take it on the chin”.
He insisted the Prime Minister has nothing to fear and should have followed the suggestion of Labour MP John McDonnell by referring himself to the committee.
With Labour commanding a large majority in the Commons and being whipped to vote against the motion, it was defeated by 334 votes to 216. However, 15 Labour MPs rebelled while another 53 did not record a vote. Following the vote, Conservative leader Kemi Badenoch, who put forward the motion, accused Labour MPs of being complicit in a “cover-up”, saying they would “rue the day” they voted against an inquiry. However, Downing Street described the move as a “desperate political stunt”, adding the Government would co-operate with existing parliamentary inquiries into the Mandelson affair.
Mr Turner, a former barrister who was first elected as MP for Hull East in 2010, has been critical of the Labour government in recent months over a number of issues, in particular regarding proposals to scrap jury trials for offences carrying a likely prison sentence of three years or lower. It was reported he was suspended from the parliamentary Labour party over his “recent conduct” though it was not specified what this referred to.
In his response, Mr Turner felt it “relates to my stance on jury trials” though it was also suggested in some reports an interview with activist and journalist Jody McIntyre, who came within 700 votes of unseating Home Office minister Jess Phillips in 2024, was a factor in his suspension. He addressed this saying: “At the time, was unaware of the interviewer’s wider views, and had I known then what know now, I would not have participated. I have already requested corrections where my comments were misrepresented.”
Writing on X after the vote on Tuesday, Mr Turner said: “I have just voted with the Motion referring the Prime Minister to the committee of Standards and Privileges. I am confident the committee would have exonerated him. We now have the indignity of being accused of voting for a ‘cover up’ which our opponents are excited to prosecute.”
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