Sacked civil servant tells select committee of ‘pressure’ to give clearance and ‘dismissive’ attitude to vettingThe civil servant sacked by Keir Starmer has given a devastating account of his government, saying Downing Street put huge pressure on the civil service to approve the appointment of Peter Mandelson as Washington ambassador despite the concerns of vetting officials.Olly Robbins, the former top official at the Foreign Office, said No 10 took a “dismissive” attitude to vetting, and Mandelson was given access to the Foreign Office building and to “higher-classification briefings” before he was granted security clearance. Continue reading...
Keir Starmer’s decision to oust senior official may have knock-on effect for No 10’s relationship with civil serviceFury within Whitehall about the treatment of Olly Robbins remains white hot, several days on from Keir Starmer’s decision to sack the senior Foreign Office civil servant.“It’s just total self-serving, narrow, selfish, political endgame stuff,” said one supporter of Robbins, who was dismissed for failing to tell the prime minister that the now disgraced former US ambassador Peter Mandelson had not passed UK security vetting. Continue reading...
Sacked Foreign Office chief tells MPs he was briefed that UKSV considered Mandelson ‘a borderline case’UK politics live – latest updatesAn account of Peter Mandelson’s vetting process given by the former top civil servant Sir Olly Robbins has raised new questions about whether Robbins was misled about the findings of the agency responsible for vetting.Robbins, who was sacked from his role of permanent secretary at the Foreign Office last week after revelations in the Guardian, gave testimony about the process to a select committee. Continue reading...
Ex-civil servant testifying about Peter Mandelson says there was a ‘creep’ of senior diplomatic roles going to political figuresUK politics live – latest updatesDowning Street asked the Foreign Office to find a senior diplomatic role for Keir Starmer’s then communications chief, Matthew Doyle, the department’s former lead civil servant revealed on Tuesday.Testifying to MPs at parliament’s foreign affairs select committee, Olly Robbins said he had had several conversations with No 10 about finding a role for Doyle, who was later suspended as a Labour peer after it emerged he had campaigned for a friend charged with possessing indecent images of children. Continue reading...
Sacked Foreign Office permanent secretary says he was under pressure from Downing Street over appointment of US ambassadorUK politics live – latest updatesThe sacked senior civil servant Oliver Robbins has said he was subject to “constant pressure” when he arrived in the Foreign Office to get Peter Mandelson in post as soon as possible.He said the Cabinet Office urged the Foreign Office to allow Mandelson’s appointment as the UK’s ambassador to the US without the usual vetting process but the Foreign Office pushed back and the vetting eventually went ahead. Continue reading...
Robbins was forced out as Foreign Office permanent secretary over the Mandelson vetting revelations in the GuardianDonald Trump seems to be conducting his relationship with Keir Starmer chiefly by online trolling at the moment. He was at it again overnight, with a post on his Truth Social network saying that, when Starmer appointed Peter Mandelson as ambassador to the US, it was a “really bad pick”.Good morning. At 9am Olly Robbins will give evidence to the Commons foreign affairs committee about the appointment of Peter Mandelson as ambassador to the US. Until last week Robbins was permanent secretary at the Foreign Office and his predecessor but one in that office, Simon McDonald, was the man who terminated Boris Johnson’s career with a revelation showing that Johnson had lied about his knowledge of a sleaze allegation about a minister. Robbins is not expected to produce a bombshell on that scale, but his evidence will be moment of jeodpardy for Keir Starmer nevertheless.Back before Lord Mandelson was announced as the appointee, there was a process … within the Cabinet Office to make sure that the prime minister was aware of Lord Mandelson and the issues around his appointment. There was then a process of clearing his conflicts of interest, which the employing department [the Foreign Office] oversaw, which we have talked about. In parallel with that process, we also went through the standard UK national security vetting process for DV [developed vetting].By the time we are describing [when DV was carried out], it was clear that the prime minister wanted to make this appointment himself. Continue reading...
PM admits he made mistake in choice of ambassador as he makes high-stakes statement to parliament over scandalKeir Starmer has accused Olly Robbins of deliberately and repeatedly obstructing the truth about the Mandelson vetting scandal before a high-jeopardy appearance of the sacked top official before MPs on Tuesday.Six days after the prime minister said he had learned that his pick for Washington ambassador had failed security vetting, Starmer admitted his decision to appoint him had been a fundamental mistake. Continue reading...
The prime minister says ministers were left in the dark, but friends of the former top civil servant suggest it was a case of politicians looking the other wayUK politics live – latest updatesFiddling with his reading glasses, the then cabinet secretary, Sir Chris Wormald – sitting alongside the most senior civil servant in the Foreign Office, Sir Olly Robbins – suddenly appeared a little tense.The bonhomie evident in earlier answers had quite disappeared. Continue reading...
There has been a steady succession of departures by ministers and senior officials in the last two yearsThe exit of the top civil servant Olly Robbins from the UK Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO) is the latest departure of an official or minister under Keir Starmer’s two-year tenure as prime minister. Here we take a look at some of the most high-profile resignations since Starmer came to power. Continue reading...
Keir Starmer understood to have lost confidence in official over decision to override security vetting failureMandelson failed vetting but Foreign Office overruled decisionSir Olly Robbins, the UK Foreign Office’s top civil servant, is leaving his post after the decision to fail Peter Mandelson during his security vetting was overruled by his department.Robbins was the Foreign Office’s most senior official in late January 2025 when the decision was made, paving the way for Mandelson to become the US ambassador. Continue reading...
