Kemi Badenoch has now responded, following MPs backing a motion that will compel the government to release documents relating to the vetting procedures Peter Mandeslon underwent. 

The leader of the Conservatives has declared victory - and insisted that the party is out for blood.

Badenoch said: "How could the prime minister have appointed him as our ambassador? 

"After all that, Labour tried to pull the wool over your eyes tonight. Conservatives forced Number 10 to come clean. 

"We won - despite the prime minister's best efforts."

The government originally scheduled an amendment to the motion, exempting some documents on national security and international relations grounds.

But after intense pressure from Labour MPs, the PM conceded - saying these documents could be passed to parliament's Intelligence and Security Committee (ISC), who will then decide what to do with them.

Badenoch continued: "The government won't be marking its own homework, or hiding behind something as vague as international relations.

"Starmer wanted secrecy because secrecy is his shelter. The prime minister signed off this appointment. This was not an accident."

She also accused the PM of not having the strength to "say no" to his chief of staff, Morgan McSweeney, over the appointment - who the Tory leader called a "Mandelson protege".

"We are forcing the truth to come out and we will make the prime minister own every line of it. 

"Somebody needs to lose their job for this," she concluded.

Sir Keir Starmer's biographer has said the documents that will be published relating to Peter Mandelson's vetting must show that the PM "knew more than was already in the public domain" for it to be damaging to his premiership. 

Tom Baldwin told the Politics Hub that while Mandelson's ongoing connection to Jeffrey Epstein had featured in newspaper reports, this didn't stop the Labour peer from appearing on general election coverage and others calling his hiring as an ambassador a "masterstroke".

He added: "So I think for people to say this was a scandalous misjudgement, yeah, they have to show that Keir Starmer knew more than was already in the public domain at the time of the time, and presumably that's what the inquiry will find out."

The PM-ally also questioned whether "anybody seriously thinks" Starmer would appoint Mandelson now, knowing what we do today. 

"I do think it's difficult to question someone's judgement unless you know what facts they had at their disposal beforehand," he added.

Baldwin also insisted that the prime minister has "good judgement" and chose "what he thought was probably the best option at the time" from a shortlist of potential political appointees.

He said: "I think he has good judgement.

"I think I can say with greater certainty that he actually had a lot of misgivings about whether to appoint Peter Mandelson in the first place."

Asked by Matt Barbet why he was persuaded otherwise, he said: "Well, he's given a short list of names, which included George Osborne and another name, which I'm told were even more ridiculous. And he plumped for what he thought was probably the best option at the time."

Asked if he should have stuck with the previous ambassador, he said: "I think with hindsight we can all say that. All I would say is that there are a lot of people displaying a lot of hindsight right now who didn't say that at the time."

Christine Jardine has given her reaction to this afternoon's events in the Commons, from PMQs to the vote to release documents about Peter Mandelson's vetting.

Speaking to the Politics Hub, the Liberal Democrat MP said she's "never seen anything like it".

Jardine, who has been an MP for almost a decade, added: "I don't know where he [Sir Keir Starmer] goes from here to be honest."

She also warned that public trust in MPs is already low and that this has made it worst.

Watch her full reaction to this afternoon's events below...

Downing Street has said it will comply with the motion passed by MPs and that it will publish "documents relating to Peter Manelson's appointment".

Reacting to the vote in the Commons a short while ago, a Number 10 spokesperson said: "Peter Mandelson's actions were unforgivable.

"He lied to the prime minister, hid information that has since come to light and presented Jeffrey Epstein as someone he barely knew.

"We will comply with the motion, including publishing documents relating to Peter Mandelson's appointment, which will show the lies he told."

MPs passed a Conservative Party motion calling on the government to publish all documents relating to the appointment process of Mandelson as US ambassador last year. 

As part of that, MPs also backed a rewritten government amendment to the motion, saying documents deemed a risk to national security or international relations will be reviewed by parliament's Intelligence and Security Committee (ISC).

The PM previously hoped to exempt these documents altogether, but this position failed to hold after pressure from prominent Labour MPs.

No documents tonight, minister says...

Moments before the vote, Cabinet Office minister Chris Ward said that no documents would be published today after the Metropolitan Police - who are carrying out a criminal investigation into Mandelson - advised them not to.

But the Commons Speaker Sir Lindsay Hoyle has reminded MPs that the police "cannot dictate" to the Commons.

 Sir Lindsay Hoyle has told MPs that the Metropolitan Police have "no jurisdiction on what this House may wish to do".

It follows Cabinet Office minister Chris Ward saying the government will not publish any documents relating to Peter Mandelson's vetting tonight "because of the conversation with the Metropolitan Police".

But for the Commons Speaker, that appears not to be a sufficient excuse.

He announced: "The Metropolitan Police have no jurisdiction on what this House may wish to do. 

"It will be whether the government provides or not. But just to let you know, they cannot dictate to this House.

"I'm going to leave it at that."

Paste BN has contacted the Met, but the force declined to comment further beyond their statement this evening - which you can see in full in our post at 6.04pm.

In that, the police "advised that the release of specific documents could undermine our current investigation" and "therefore asked them [the government] not to release certain documents at this time".

Ward insisted ministers want to release documents to the public "as quickly as possible".

The prime minister is in a very sticky situation tonight, our political editor Beth Rigby says.

The decision to back the government's amendment to the Tory motion on releasing documents to do with Peter Mandelson's vetting was "much closer than the prime minister was led to believe", she adds.

Beth explains: "The release of further details on Mandelson's relationship with Jeffrey Epstein has really blown up a crisis that the prime minister hoped he had put to bed last September, when he sacked Mandelson as the ambassador to the US."

Revelations over the weekend, such as allegations that Mandelson gave advance notice to the disgraced financier about a huge EU bailout while he was business minister "brought this crisis right to the door of the current prime minister", she says. 

She continues: "Where does it leave the current prime minister? He is in a very, very, very sticky situation tonight.

"The fact that the government have had to amend their own amendment to allow the release of all these documents and then put the adjudication of what should and shouldn't be put in the public domain, not in the hands of the government, but in the hands of parliament through the Intelligence and Security Committee. The reason that is happening is because their own MPs do not trust the government."

The government had to change their amendment this afternoon after coming under intense pressure from influential Labour MPs, including Angela Rayner and Dame Meg Hillier. 

Beth says this hows "very clearly how deeply unhappy about this MPs are".

"There are many MPs and a few ministers telling me that they feel compromised by this.

"I've got MPs telling me that they're not sure they can stay on in government posts. You know, people might resign.

"It is a tinderbox, this that could really ignite, so it's very, very febrile.

She adds: "He is in a very, very, very fragile position this evening. And the mood in the parliamentary party is really, really difficult."

Cabinet Office minister Chris Ward has ruled out any documents being published today due to the ongoing criminal investigation.

Ward explains: "I just want to confirm to the House the material will not be released today because of the conversation with the Metropolitan Police over that, but it will be released as quickly as possible in line with the process.

"The timeline will be as soon as possible. We want to get on with this. We want to get with this. There is a lot of material here to go through. We will get to this as quickly as possible. 

"Other humble addresses have taken a number of weeks or months. We would want to be as quick as possible, and we will work with the ISC as soon as we can on this to get it, to get it, progressing."

Chris Ward is defending the government's decision to introduce an amendment that would give parliament's Intelligence and Security Committee (ISC) the right to oversee documents related to the vetting of Peter Mandelson.

The Cabinet Office says Sir Keir Starmer "will never compromise" on national security, and adds that a "significant" number of documents relating to Mandelson could "well touch on sensitive issues of intelligence, trade or relations with other countries".

He explains: "For example, we would not inadvertently want to release information about what our red lines are in trade agreements, about the peace negotiations and position on things like Ukraine, Middle East or Sudan, or on sensitive assessments made on a lot on our allies and diplomatic conversations."

The minister tells MPs: "In line with the manuscript amendment, papers determined to be prejudicial to national security or international relations will be referred to the ISC. 

"The ISC are independent. They are rigorous. They are highly respected. They will then decide what to do with the material that is sent to them."

He adds that the cabinet secretary will work "directly in hand with the ISC" and he will "write to the ISC setting out that process".

Ward adds that it will be up to the ISC to determine "what work or if material is deemed to potentially conflict with national security or foreign relations".

He insists: "There will not be political involvement from ministers. There will not be political involvement from number ten in this process. 

"This is the cabinet secretary and the ISC working with lawyers."

Chris Ward has insisted that the PM "acted" when "new information came to light" about Peter Mandelson's relationship with Jeffrey Epstein.

The cabinet office minister is winding up the government's argument over the motion to publish all documents relating to the vetting of Lord Mandelson.

The Tories are seeking to force this through, using a humble address, while Labour have tweaked their amendment to try and placate angry backbench MPs.

They now say that any documents related to national security or international relations concerns would be passed to and vetted by parliament's Intelligence and Security Committee (ISC).

The minister thanks "everyone who contributed" to today's debate, before telling the Commons: "It's clear from all sides of the House today that they share the public's anger at Mandelson's treachery, his lies and his deceit. 

"As the prime minister said earlier, Mandelson betrayed this country. He lied to the prime minister. He lied during the vetting process, which I will return to because a number of members raised it. Frankly, I suspect he's still lying now. 

"That's why, since new information came to light, the prime minister over the weekend has acted in a number of ways."

'Substantial' number of documents could relate to sensitive issues

He points to Sir Keir Starmer instructing the cabinet secretary to investigate all papers released by the US Department of Justice, the government referred material to the police and since then, the Met have launched an investigation.

He insists the government will "cooperate fully and must go wherever the evidence takes it".

Ward also insists that Mandelson wouldn't have come "within a million miles of government" if the PM knew now what he claims Starmer didn't know then.