Rotherham Conservatives | 29 April 2026
Rother Valley's Labour MP Jake Richards has voted to shield Sir Keir Starmer from a parliamentary investigation into whether the Prime Minister misled the House of Commons — and former Rother Valley MP Alexander Stafford has made clear that this represents yet another betrayal of the people Richards was elected to represent.
The vote, which took place on Tuesday, saw MPs reject a Conservative motion to refer Starmer to the Commons Privileges Committee over his handling of the Peter Mandelson scandal. The final numbers stood at 223 for and 335 against the referral, a majority of 112, as Labour backbenchers came together under a party whip to block the investigation.
Richards, who serves as the Government's Assistant Whip, was amongst those who voted to protect the Prime Minister, despite previously claiming that his colleagues were not being forced to vote in line with the Labour leadership. The contradiction was not lost on Stafford, who has repeatedly called out Richards for using his whipping role to enforce loyalty to Starmer whilst denying that any such pressure exists.
Conservative Leader Kemi Badenoch warned that Labour MPs will "rue the day" they voted against the referral, accusing Starmer of threatening colleagues with the loss of their jobs to help cover up his misleading statements to Parliament.
Stafford has urged people across Rother Valley to take note and to spread the word about where Jake's loyalties truly lie — with his ministerial career and the Labour machine in Westminster, not with the constituents who sent him to Parliament.
Rotherham Conservatives believe Rother Valley deserves a representative who will hold those in power to account, not one who votes to protect them from scrutiny.
Rother Valley deserves better.
