Key Highlights
- Opposition parties can table motions for debate, but most of them are not binding.
- However, if they table a humble address (“That an humble address be presented to His Majesty, that he will be graciously pleased to give directions to require the government to lay before this house all papers relating to” etc), and it passes, the government has to compy. In 2017 Starmer, the then shadow Brexit secretary, won a humble address vote that forced the release of documents relating to the economic impact of Brexit.
- It was the first time for years the device had been used successfully.
- Since then humble addresses have become almost commonplace. Here is the motion tabled by the Conservatives for debate today.
- That an humble address be presented to His Majesty, that he will be graciously pleased to give directions to require the government to lay before this house all papers relating to Lord Mandelson’s appointment as His Majesty’s ambassador to the United States of America, including but not confined to the Cabinet Office due diligence which was passed to Number 10, the conflict of interest form Lord Mandelson provided to the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO), material the FCDO and the Cabinet Office provided to UK security vetting about Lord Mandelson’s interests in relation to Global Counsel, including his work in relation to Russia and China, and his links to Jeffrey Epstein, papers for, and minutes of, meetings relating to the decision to appoint Lord Mandelson, electronic communications between the prime minister’s chief of staff and Lord Mandelson, and between ministers and Lord Mandelson, in the six months prior to his appointment, minutes of meetings between Lord Mandelson and ministers in the six months prior to his appointment, all information on Lord Mandelson provided to the prime minister prior to his assurance to this house on 10 September 2025 that ‘full due process was followed during this appointment’, electronic communications and minutes of all meetings between Lord Mandelson and ministers, government officials and special advisers during his time as ambassador, and the details of any payments made to Lord Mandelson on his departure as ambassador and from the civil service.
