British lawmakers on Tuesday voted against launching an inquiry into whether Prime Minister Keir Starmer misled Parliament over his decision to appoint Peter Mandelson as ambassador to the U.S.
Starmer appointed Labour veteran Mandelson to the top diplomatic post in December 2024, before dismissing him last September when his ties to the late U.S. sex offender Jeffrey Epstein were found to be deeper than previously known.
The Prime Minister has resisted pressure to resign over the issue, stating that Mandelson had lied about his relationship with Epstein.
Starmer also said officials had withheld information from him about the vetting process that would have prevented the appointment.
On Tuesday, lawmakers voted 335 to 223 against asking the Committee of Privileges to investigate whether Starmer had misled the House of Commons on several matters, including his statement that "full due process" had been followed in relation to the appointment.
Had the committee found that Starmer had deliberately misled Parliament, he would have been expected to resign.
Starmer criticised the attempt to launch an inquiry, led by opposition Conservative Party leader Kemi Badenoch, calling it a political stunt aimed at influencing voters ahead of local and regional elections on 7 May.
He instructed lawmakers in his centre-left Labour Party to oppose the investigation, resulting in its decisive rejection. Badenoch said the move demonstrated Starmer's weakness, arguing that he had been forced to rely on party discipline to block scrutiny.
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An agreement between Iran and the U.S. to reopen the Strait of Hormuz is expected "soon," a U.S. official has said. The deal would result in the resumption of commercial shipping through the sea passage and the lifting of an American naval blockade on Iranian ports.
A deal on a new route for vessels through the Strait of Hormuz is "very close," Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi has said, while warning that the reopening of the waterway depends on the U.S. meeting other conditions, including paying compensation to Iran.
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Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said Ukraine is increasingly penetrating Russia's air-defence network, as both sides stepped up overnight strikes on energy, logistics and port infrastructure.
U.S. President Donald Trump says Washington is “semi-negotiating” with Iran as uncertainty surrounds efforts to ease regional tensions.
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A gunman was arrested after opening fire at a local government office near Bangkok on Monday, days after a deadly school shooting renewed debate over gun control in Thailand.
Flights arriving at Catania airport in eastern Sicily were suspended after volcanic ash from a new eruption of Mount Etna drifted into the airspace around the airport, disrupting operations at one of Italy’s busiest aviation hubs.
The future of U.S. President Donald Trump’s Gaza roadmap remains uncertain, with Israel and Hamas divided over its implementation, particularly the sequence of Hamas’s disarmament and an Israeli withdrawal.
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