Sir Keir Starmer looked “close to tears” and gave clear signs of “losing composure” while being questioned by MPs over Peter Mandelson's appointment as US ambassador, according to a body language expert. The Prime Minister blamed former top civil servant Sir Olly Robbins for deliberately keeping him in the dark over Mandelson's failure to pass security vetting checks before taking the role. S
Sir Keir told the Commons he would not have appointed Mandelson if he had known the peer had failed the checks and insisted there was no pressure from Downing Street to push through the high-profile appointment. During the two-hour grilling session, the Prime Minister's body language “began crumble like ripe Stilton cheese” with his “face reddening and his forehead becoming creased and lined”, expert Judi James said. She added that a few moments when his voice “cracked a little” also suggested he could have been “close to tears”.
Ms James, who has analyzed major political, royal and celebrity events, told the Express that the overwhelming impression given by Sir Keir was that he was “just hoping to still be standing upright by the end of the prolonged attack from all sides of the House”.
She said his initial address belied “mild indignation” rather than “the expected depiction of rage”, with his composure eroding quickly when questions “began raining down from all sides”.
“The greatest 'tell' of a loss of composure came from his instant and worsening use of verbal fillers,” she added. “The 'Ums' and 'Ers' increased, as did the pauses to allow him time to think and regain his train of thought.
“In some of the pauses, we could see his eye direction becoming evasive as his blink rate became more erratic, hinting he was trying to keep his thoughts in the same logical order as his address but under the immense pressure of a verbal battering.”
The Prime Minister fired Sir Olly from his role as the Foreign Office's top official after learning last week that Mandelson had been granted security clearance despite failing the checks.
MPs will have the opportunity to further scrutinize the government's accountability in relation to the appointment during an emergency debate on Tuesday.
Conservative leader Kemi Badenoch, who applied for the debate, said it was “a matter of national security because the Prime Minister has admitted appointing a known serious security risk to our most sensitive diplomatic post”.
Sir Keir denied misleading the Commons in the face of accusations that he lied to Parliament by failing to set out the full picture around how Mandelson was granted developed vetting (DV) status.
He said it was “unforgivable” that the full information about the appointment had not been disclosed, adding that this “wasn't an oversight” but “a deliberate decision was taken to withhold that material from me” on repeated occasions by the Foreign Office.