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Keir Starmer leaving 10 Downing Street. A Labour MP repeatedly refused to say he has “confidence” in Keir Starmer during an awkward TV interview. Dan Carden said there “a lack of ideological vision and strategy at the heart of government” and suggested the prime minister could be forced out of office if the elections on May 7 are as bad for Labour as opinion polls suggest. Starmer is facing a fresh crisis after it emerged shamed former Labour peer Peter Mandelson was appointed the UK’s ambassador to Washington despite failing to clear security vetting. The PM reacted by sacking Olly Robbins , the top civil servant in the Foreign Office, for not telling him about the UK Security Vetting assessment. During an appearance before parliament’s Foreign Affairs Committee this week, Robbins claimed there was “constant pressure” from No.10 for Mandelson to be cleared to take up the role. Carden, who is a member of the committee, told BBC Newsnight it had been “a mistake” to sack Robbins. Asked by presenter Victoria Derbyshire if he had confidence in the PM, the Liverpool Walton MP said: “He’ll take us into the local elections and I think that will be a moment where the public have been consulted and there will be results. “All of us as MPs will be looking at what our voters are telling us in those results. But there is definitely a question about the future of the Labour government, the future of Labour Party and what that vision is that we are setting out for the country.” After Derbyshire asked a second time, Carden said: “Keir Starmer needs to set out where this government is heading and I think it feels right now like we’re going from crisis to crisis and that happens because there is a lack of ideological vision and strategy at the heart of government. “I wish I wasn’t carrying forward this message, but I think we have to be honest and after the local elections it will be for the [Parliamentary Labour Party] and the leadership to look at where next.” Asked whether “getting rid” of the PM was the answer, the MP said: “The prime minister has to set out how things are going to be different. We cannot go from crisis to crisis. “If we have a very bad set of local election results, of course that is the moment where we can reflect on what the public have done at the ballot box, but I think that is the open conversation that will need to be had over these next couple of weeks.” Carden added: “I want this Labour government to succeed, I would like the prime minister to succeed at doing this, but it’s a real challenge. “I think decisions like the sacking of Olly Robbins this week just send the wrong signal that this is going in the wrong direction.” “Do you have confidence in your PM?” “He’ll take us into the local elections and that will be a moment where the public have been consulted & there’ll be results.” Labour MP Dan Carden says “there is definitely a question about the future of the Labour government". #Newsnight pic.twitter.com/1c8MBzsb6T — BBC Newsnight (@BBCNewsnight) April 22, 2026 Subscribe to Commons People , the podcast that makes politics easy. Every week, Kevin Schofield and Kate Nicholson unpack the week’s biggest stories to keep you informed. Join us for straightforward analysis of what’s going on at Westminster. Related... Labour MP Calls On Starmer To Resign Over Mandelson 'Psychodrama' Cabinet Ministers Distance Themselves From Starmer Over Mandelson Scandal Starmer Admits To Trying To Make His Ex-Spin Doctor An Ambassador
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