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A former Labour MP has joined opposition parties calling for Keir Starmer to face a Commons committee to examine whether the prime minister misled parliament as the government’s crisis surrounding the appointment of Peter Mandelson as ambassador to Washington continues.

Karl Turner, who lost the Labour whip last month after making a series of interventions criticising Starmer and No 10, has written to the speaker of the Commons urging him to refer Starmer to the privileges committee, the same body that found Boris Johnson had lied in the Commons over the lockdown parties scandal.

In a letter to the speaker posted on X, which has since been deleted, he wrote that he was raising a “matter of serious concern regarding the conduct” of Starmer during prime minister’s questions on Wednesday.

Turner, who now sits as an independent MP, said it was “clear that the prime minister’s characterisation of that evidence is, at best, inaccurate and, at worst, misleading to the House”.

In the X post accompanying the letter, Turner said: “Let me be clear, I’m not accusing the PM of deliberately misleading the House of Commons. However, there are evident inconsistencies between statements made during PMQs, and the evidence given by Oliver Robbins.”

Turnerfollowed the deleted post with a statement on X saying that posting his letter to the speaker about Starmer was an “administrative error”, adding that he had apologised to the speaker. MPs who want to raise an allegation of contempt of parliament with the speaker are required to do so privately.

During PMQs, Starmer said no pressure had been put on the Foreign Office to approve the vetting of Mandelson, using quotes from Olly Robbins, the former Foreign Office permanent secretary.

Robbins, who was sacked by Starmer last week after the Guardian disclosed he had overturned a recommendation from UK Security Vetting (UKSV) to deny clearance for Mandelson, told MPs on the foreign affairs committee on Tuesday that “constant pressure” was applied.

It comes as divisions emerged in cabinet over Starmer’s decision to sack Robbins – with some in Labour feeling Starmer was wrong to fire him so quickly.

The Conservatives, with the support of the Liberal Democrats and the SNP, have been pushing for the privileges committee to intervene in the crisis, and are understood to be exploring a Johnson-style motion whereby all MPs could vote on whether the committee should explore if Starmer was in contempt of parliament.

The shadow chancellor, Mel Stride, said on Thursday that the privileges committee should examine if Starmer had misled parliament, saying testimony by Robbins on Tuesday “directly contradicts” assurances given by the prime minister in the Commons. “Our belief is that the prime minister has misled parliament, because what he’s said in parliament is that pressure was not applied, and he’s been contradicted by Olly Robbins,” Stride told GB News.

During Cabinet Office questions, the shadow Cabinet Office minister Alex Burghart repeated the claim that Starmer had misquoted Robbins’ evidence. “Yesterday the prime minister also told the house Sir Olly was absolutely clear that nobody put pressure on him to make this appointment, but this is not what Sir Olly said to [the] committee,” Burghart said to the chief secretary to the prime minister, Darren Jones.

Last week, the Liberal Democrat leader, Ed Davey, said: “We need to get to the bottom of exactly what Keir Starmer knew when, and whether he intentionally misled parliament over this appalling scandal. The public deserves the truth, not another cover-up.”

The prime minister’s spokesperson said Starmer did not mislead the house, and was “being very specific in terms of talking about the allegation that there was pressure around taking up the role regardless of the vetting outcome”. They added: “We’ve been very clear that wasn’t the case.”