LONDON: British lawmaker Zarah Sultana was removed from the House of Commons on Monday after accusing Prime Minister Keir Starmer of being a \u201cbare-faced liar\u201d during a heated exchange over the appointment of Peter Mandelson as the United Kingdom\u2019s ambassador to the United States.<\/p>\n
Sultana, MP for Coventry South, refused to withdraw her remarks, prompting Speaker Lindsay Hoyle to order her removal from the chamber. She is expected to face a suspension of up to five days in line with parliamentary rules.<\/p>\n
Her ejection came shortly after Lee Anderson of Reform UK was also removed from the Commons for similarly referring to the prime minister as a \u201cliar.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n
Under parliamentary protocol, members are prohibited from accusing one another of lying and must withdraw such statements if challenged.<\/p>\n
The confrontation followed Starmer\u2019s statement earlier in the day, in which he said he \u201cwould not have appointed\u201d Mandelson as ambassador had he been aware that the former senior figure had failed security vetting conducted by UK Security Vetting.<\/p>\n
Starmer told MPs he was unaware of the failed vetting until recently, describing himself as \u201cfrankly staggered\u201d that the information had not been communicated to him by officials.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n
During the subsequent question session, Sultana sharply criticized the prime minister, alleging he had knowingly made the appointment due to political loyalties.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe all know that the Prime Minister appointed Mandelson because he owes his job to him,\u201d she said. \u201cHe appointed him, he defended him, and now he claims to know nothing.\u201d<\/p>\n
She added: \u201cHe is gaslighting the nation\u2026 The Prime Minister is a bare-faced liar,\u201d prompting audible reactions in the chamber.<\/p>\n
Speaker Hoyle immediately intervened, warning Sultana to withdraw her remarks or face disciplinary action. When she refused, a motion for her suspension was introduced by government whip Gen Kitchen and approved by MPs.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019ve given the option to withdraw\u2026 I\u2019d leave if I were you,\u201d Hoyle said before ordering her departure.<\/p>\n
Later, Starmer addressed the controversy, acknowledging the decision to appoint Mandelson had been a mistake.<\/p>\n
\u201cI should not have appointed Peter Mandelson. I take responsibility for that decision,\u201d he told MPs, also issuing an apology to victims linked to disgraced financier Jeffrey Epstein.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n
The controversy stems from Mandelson\u2019s failure to pass security checks conducted between December 2024 and January 2025. Downing Street has maintained that the Foreign Office did not disclose the concerns, with the prime minister placing responsibility on officials for failing to relay the information.<\/p>\n
The incident underscores rising tensions in Parliament, as opposition figures intensify scrutiny of the government over transparency and accountability in key appointments.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
LONDON: British lawmaker Zarah Sultana was removed from the House of Commons on Monday after accusing Prime Minister Keir Starmer of being a \u201cbare-faced liar\u201d during a heated exchange over the appointment of Peter Mandelson as the United Kingdom\u2019s ambassador to the United States. Sultana, MP for Coventry South, refused to withdraw her remarks, prompting […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":11434,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"video","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[81,65,73],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-11433","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-video","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-diplomatic-missions","8":"category-foreign-missions","9":"category-united-kingdom","10":"post_format-post-format-video"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/thediplomat.com.pk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11433","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/thediplomat.com.pk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/thediplomat.com.pk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thediplomat.com.pk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thediplomat.com.pk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=11433"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/thediplomat.com.pk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11433\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":85725,"href":"https:\/\/thediplomat.com.pk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11433\/revisions\/85725"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thediplomat.com.pk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/11434"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/thediplomat.com.pk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=11433"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thediplomat.com.pk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=11433"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thediplomat.com.pk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=11433"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}