Referral of Prime Minister to Committee of Privileges

Ann Davies Excerpts

Tuesday 28th April 2026 Commons Chamber

[Ann Davies (Caerfyrddin) (PC)]

The Prime Minister has called this motion a “stunt” and “pure politics”, but he and the Labour MPs rallying around him forget the seriousness of the allegations against him. The allegations regard misleading the House of Commons over statements relating to the appointment of Peter Mandelson as ambassador to the United States—an individual with well-documented links to a convicted sex offender and human trafficker. Swatting away those allegations as a “desperate political stunt” and refusing to let them be investigated properly by the Committee of Privileges is an insult to us all. It is an insult to the public, who were promised transparency and openness by the Prime Minister’s Labour Government, and it is an insult to victims and survivors of violence and abuse, who deserve so much better from those who claim to represent them.

Parliament is today being asked a straightforward question: whether serious concerns regarding the Prime Minister should be examined properly and independently. If the Prime Minister insists that he has done nothing wrong, surely the Committee of Privileges will come to the same conclusion. If Labour believes that everything is in order, why has it forced its MPs to vote against the motion? That begs the question: what does the Prime Minister have to hide?

The Prime Minister promised change, and people across Wales gave him a mandate for that change, but what did the public get instead? Misjudgements, incompetence, a lack of transparency at the heart of Government and no real accountability. I put myself forward to become a Member of Parliament because, to be frank, I was fed up of partygate, the betting scandal and the £250,000 that Vaughan Gething accepted in order to fund his leadership campaign. I thought, “We are better than this. as residents and constituents, we are better than that.” People deserve a Government who are honest and transparent, and we certainly have not had that in the two years that I have been on these Benches.

The Prime Minister has tried to wash his hands of Mandelson’s appointment, hiding behind processes, procedure and the actions of civil servants. He has been destroying decent people’s lives only to hobble on for another few weeks. Even if the Prime Minister’s loyalists vote this motion down, Labour and the Prime Minister will have shown their true colours. In just over a week, the people of Wales have a chance to give their verdict, and they will.