Keir Starmer enjoys playing the lawyer during Peter Mandelson Commons session
The Mandelson scandal has been bad for the Prime Minister - but he may still go on after the elections
Monday afternoon was a big event in the House of Commons, with the buzz being felt well before the Prime Minister even got up to speak.
The chamber was packed and the peers gallery was rammed - including with some former senior civil servants - as Sir Keir criticised officials for not telling him about Peter Mandelson failing vetting.
While reading out his statement, the former lawyer acted like he was back in his happy place: the courtroom.
He set out a timeline of events, explaining how he should have been told about security experts recommending against giving the disgraced peer security clearance.
It was like he was back in front of a judge, slowly but surely setting out his case and gently reminding the jury (this time hundreds of MPs) of his argument.
For once, the former director of public prosecutions seemed somewhat convincing.
That became slightly more difficult after he finished reading out his statement.
Kemi Badenoch accused him of breaching the ministerial code but her ploy of asking six questions which she had sent to the PM in advance didn’t have the desired effect.
In a cliché-laden contribution, Lib Dem leader Ed Davey compared Sir Keir to Boris Johnson during Partygate, reminded him of how he reacted to that scandal and called for him to resign.
SNP Westminster leader Stephen Flynn asked if he was “gullible, incompetent, or both”.
Reform MP Lee Anderson made the strongest impact when he was chucked out for accusing the Prime Minister of “lying”. Regardless of how obvious it might seem, an MP is not allowed to accuse another of not telling the truth.
The PM continued his usual deflections, but eventually said that he “did not mislead the House of Commons” even though his previous version of events was wrong.
It was his own MPs - and their lack of support - which was the bigger issue.
A strong leader would have the vocal backing of his backbenchers during such a difficult time.
Despite being there in huge numbers, Labour MPs were mostly glum and muted - excluding the ambitious few who read out government-written questions.
The usual suspects caused him some problems. Mother of the house, left-winger and Corbyn era shadow home secretary Diane Abbott received plenty of cheers when she grilled the PM on why he hadn’t asked about the Prince of Darkness failing vetting.
Sir Keir just read out the usual spiel which was on the paper in front of him.
Despite another self-inflicted blunder in the never-ending Peter Mandelson scandal, it seems like the Prime Minister will go on.
Although it is not a good story, it seems like Labour cannot fall any lower in the opinion polls and is too much of a process-related affair.
Labour faces disastrous Holyrood, Senedd and English local elections in under three weeks’ time.
If none of Sir Keir’s potential challengers have their ducks in a row - which seems likely - he will continue after the drubbing.
There is also more than an outside chance that he will stay in post until the next election.
For all their complaints, most Labour MPs will not be overly confident booting out one of only two living men to have won the party a general election.
There is a glimmer of hope for the PM as Reform’s backing for Donald Trump could lose it support in the UK, given that the US President has caused the cost of living to spike.
The Mandelson scandal has been greatly damaging to Sir Keir, but unbelievably he may come out the other side of it.
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