Starmer tells MPs to ‘fight together’ before critical day for his premiership

The prime minister faces a standards investigation over Mandelson affair and testimony from Morgan McSweeney

Keir Starmer has told Labour MPs to “stick together and fight together” as ministers launched a massive operation to shore up his fragile position before a critical day for his premiership.

The prime minister faces the double threat of a standards investigation into his decision to appoint Peter Mandelson as ambassador to the US and a potentially damaging testimony from Morgan McSweeney, his former chief of staff.

Allies including Richard Hermer, the attorney general, and Jenny Chapman, a foreign office minister, were among those who rang round Labour MPs before Tuesday’s Commons vote on whether to refer him to parliament’s privileges committee.

Senior Labour figures including Gordon Brown and former cabinet ministers Alan Johnson and David Blunkett called for restraint from backbenchers, dismissing the vote as a political stunt designed to destabilise the party before the May elections.