Good morning. Spare a thought for Cabinet Office officials. They are already embarked on a massive exercise to collate, and vet, thousands of documents relating to Peter Mandelson’s appointment as ambassador to the US, and his communications with government while he was in the job. That is so they can be published to comply with a humble address passed by MPs. Now it seems they are going to have to do a similar exercise for the paperwork relating to Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor’s appointment as a trade envoy in 2001.

The Liberal Democrats have an opposition day in parliament, meaning they can choose the motion for debate, and they have tabled their own humble address. it says:

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 the creation of the role of special representative for trade and investment and Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor’s appointment to that role, including but not confined to any documents held by UK Trade and Investment, British Trade International (BTI) and its successors, the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office, the Cabinet Office and the prime minister’s office containing or relating to advice from, or provided to, the Group Chief Executive of BTI, Peter Mandelson, the Cabinet Office and the prime minister regarding the suitability of Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor for the appointment, due diligence and vetting conducted in relation to the appointment, and minutes of meetings and electronic communications regarding the due diligence and vetting.

Bridget Phillipson, the education secretary, has been giving interviews this morning, and she indicated that the government would not be blocking the motion. She told the Today programme:

We’re in favour of the principle of there being transparency around this. We think that’s important. Of course, the public have a right to see material that is relevant.

But she also repeatedly stressed that it would be wrong to publish anything that might prejudice the police investigation into Mountbatten-Windsor. She said:

We will look at what the Lib Dems have set out [and we] will address the position later on in parliament when we come to that debate.

But we do just need to be careful here because, as in the Peter Mandelson case, we have got a live police investigation here and none of us would want to do anything that would jeopardise it.

This suggests the Commons is likely to end up passing a version of the motion, with an amendment saying publication will only happen when the police inquiry is over.

Here is the agenda for the day.

9.30am: Keir Starmer chairs cabinet, with Antonia Romeo taking the notes for the first time as cabinet secretary.

11am: Kemi Badenoch and Laura Trott, the shadow education secretary, hold a press conference with parents to discuss the case for a ban on teenagers accessing social media.

11am: Starmer takes part in a virtual coalition of the willing meeting on the fourth anniversary of the Russian invasion of Ukraine.

11am: Richard Tice, the Reform UK business spokesperson, gives a speech in the West Midlands.

11.45am: David Lammy, the deputy PM and justice secretary, gives a speech on reforming the courts system. He will announce he is lifting the cap on court sitting days.

Noon: Downing Street holds a lobby briefing.

Noon: The high court issues its judgement on Rupert Lowe MP’s bid to temporarily block the independent complaints and grievance scheme.

After 12.30pm: MPs will start debating the Lib Dem humble address motion saying documents relating to the appointment of Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor as a trade envoy when Labour was last in office should be published. The vote is due at about 4pm, although it seems likely it will be approved without a division.

2.30pm: Liam Byrne, the chair of the Commons business committee, is expeced to announce whether or not his committee will be launching an inquiry into trade envoys at the start of a hearing.

After 4pm: MPs debate a Lib Dem motion saying on Monday 9 March the Lib Dems should have control of the parliamentary timetable so they can pass a bill an online services (age restrictions) bill. The motion is certain to be voted down.

I’m afraid we are not able to open comments today. I’m sorry about that.

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