Mandelson

Philip Barton says there was pressure over pace of vetting from No 10, which he says was ‘uninterested’ in processUK politics live – latest updatesThe former Foreign Office chief has said he was concerned about Peter Mandelson’s links to Jeffery Epstein – and said there was “absolutely” pressure from Downing Street over the pace of vetting.Giving evidence to the foreign affairs select committee, the former Foreign Office permanent secretary Sir Philip Barton said Number 10 seemed “uninterested” in the vetting process around Mandelson’s appointment as US ambassador, and said there were no avenues for him to express his concerns. Continue reading...

Morgan McSweeney among those giving evidence to foreign affairs committee ahead of Commons vote Good morning. The former US president Lyndon Johnson is credited with saying the most important skill in politics is knowing how to count, meaning that ultimately what matters is being able to win a vote. But sometimes in politics what matters just as much, or even more, is the ability to win the argument. Today Keir Starmer will be tested on both these measures.Winning the vote should be easy. Here is our overnight preview story by Pippa Crerar on the events setting up today’s vote on a motion tabled by Kemi Badenoch, as well as MPs from five other opposition parties (the Lib Dems, the SNP, the DUP, Restore Britain, TUV) and a string of independents, referring Starmer to the privileges committee. Continue reading...

Ian Collard tells MPs he had not seen UKSV assessment summary before briefing Olly Robbins on clearanceA top Foreign Office security official who played a key role in the granting of Peter Mandelson’s vetting clearance “felt pressure to deliver a rapid outcome” because of contacts from Downing Street, MPs have been told.In testimony relayed to parliament via the Foreign Office (FCDO), Ian Collard said he had not seen the assessment summary produced by the vetting agency when he gave an oral briefing to Olly Robbins, the department’s former permanent secretary. Instead, Collard had received an oral briefing from a member of the FCDO’s personnel security team. Continue reading...

Former chief of staff who helped bring Mandelson out of Labour shadows for Washington post to be questioned by MPs on vetting processLike many Labour stories, Peter Mandelson’s and Morgan McSweeney’s both start at Lambeth council.Mandelson was in his mid-20s. It was 1979, and he was a new councillor under the leadership of “Red” Ted Knight. He came to despise the local party, describing the Lambeth Labour party’s leadership as “contributing very little to the economic development of south London, instead politicising everything, attacking the police and the Tory government, and making the council go broke.” Continue reading...

Commons speaker to grant application by Tories for vote on investigation into whether PM misled MPs, say sourcesUK politics live – latest updatesKeir Starmer will face a vote on whether to launch an investigation into claims he misled the Commons over his decision to appoint Peter Mandelson as ambassador to Washington.Sources have told the Guardian that the speaker, Lindsay Hoyle, is expected to allow a debate on Tuesday on potentially referring the prime minister to the privileges committee. Continue reading...

Alan Johnson and David Blunkett say Tory proposal for a privileges committee inquiry is a ‘nakedly political stunt’Good morning. Kemi Badenoch is trying to get Lindsay Hoyle, the speaker, to give MPs a vote on a proposal to get the Commons privileges committee to investigate allegations that Keir Starmer lied to MPs in statements he made to them about the vetting of Peter Mandelson. Other opposition parties may be backing her, but we don’t know for sure because the process is relatively secret; MPs have to write a private letter to the speaker, who then decides whether this is a serious request that should be decided by the Commons as a whole, or a frivolous complaint that should be ignored. (We do know that Karl Turner has written to the speaker about this too, but only because he was daft enough to post his letter on social media last week.) Today we are likely to find out whether or not Hoyle is agreeing to a Commons vote.Boris Johnson was referred to the privileges committee over allegations that he lied to MPs about Partygate (allegations the committee concluded were justified). Badenoch wants to make the case that Starmer is just as dishonest as Johnson. He isn’t, by any stretch, and the claims that Starmer lied to MPs about Mandelson are spurious; they relate to contest intepretations of political language of the kind that are commonplace in parliamentary debate. But the fact that this has even become a live consideration for the speaker is a big win for the Tories.The fact that Kemi Badenoch has changed the accusations she is levelling against the PM on an almost daily basis as her claims have failed to stand up to scrutiny shows what this is really about. This is a nakedly political stunt with no substance ahead of the May elections.Any comparison with Boris Johnson is absurd. When parliament referred that matter to the privileges committee, a police investigation had directly disproved his categoric statements that he knew nothing about the breach of lockdown rules.I suppose our constituents might ask [if a privileges committee goes ahead], have we got the balance right between holding the government to account and seemingly squabbling amongst ourselves when there is so much else going on that perhaps parliament ought to be focusing on as well.I have to say, a really truthful position is, why the rush at the moment? Has it got anything to do with local elections? Continue reading...

Conservatives expected to push for privileges committee involvement in a Commons vote on MondayA series of senior Labour figures have dismissed calls for a new investigation into what Keir Starmer told MPs about the appointment of Peter Mandelson as political point scoring, before a possible Commons vote on the issue.The Conservatives have called for the cross-party privileges committee, the remit of which includes examining whether MPs broke rules, to look at whether the prime minister misled parliament when he said normal procedures were followed with Mandelson’s appointment. Continue reading...

Prime minister says ‘you never hear from … the people who are supportive, loyal and just want to get on with the job’Good morning and welcome to today’s live coverage of UK politics.Despite several calls for his resignation from within his own party, Keir Starmer told the Sunday Times that the “vast majority” of the Labour party are supportive of his leadership. Continue reading...

Chief property and security officer Ian Collard set to submit written answers to foreign affairs committee questionsA key figure in the row over Peter Mandelson’s appointment as UK ambassador to Washington will not appear before a parliamentary committee of MPs to give evidence.Dame Emily Thornberry had requested that Ian Collard speak to the foreign affairs committee (FAC) on Tuesday, but confirmed on Saturday that he would submit written answers instead.Whether he felt under pressure to deliver Lord Mandelson’s clearance, after Sir Olly said there was an “atmosphere of pressure” and “constant chasing” from Downing Street.Whether he had seen the cover form for Lord Mandelson’s vetting by UK Security Vetting (UKSV), the agency responsible for checks on candidates for sensitive posts, in which it had ticked two red boxes – meaning they had “high concern” and recommended “clearance denied or withdrawn”.If he was asked by anyone in the Foreign Office, Downing Street or the Cabinet Office for advice about whether Lord Mandelson required vetting for the post given he was a member of the House of Lords.If he advised on how Lord Mandelson should be treated during the period between his appointment being announced and his clearance coming through. Continue reading...

Some familiar, arcane terms are returning to the fore as the Tories study the tactics Labour used against Boris JohnsonThe lexicon of a British parliamentary scandal is arcane.As Keir Starmer fights to remain prime minister, he has had to respond to a “humble address”, had his judgment picked over during an “emergency opposition day debate” and now faces the ignominy of a “privilege motion”. Continue reading...

Former US ambassador and Labour peer joins a long line of people who have gone out to meet awaiting paparazzi head-onFor a man at the centre of a storm that has rocked the political establishment, Peter Mandelson has spent the week looking remarkably relaxed. Day after day, as MPs have grilled civil servants over who knew what when about the former US ambassador’s security vetting, and police continue to investigate serious allegations over his own conduct, Mandelson has stepped out of his Regent’s Park mansion and pottered across the road to take his dog for a walk.Smart-casually dressed in jeans and a jumper and holding in front of him a plastic ball-thrower, he has set off for the park like a weekending solicitor on his way to an egg and spoon race. There have been occasional small smiles for the photographers at his gate, but no comment. The message appears to be: I am insouciant, normal. Not in prison. Continue reading...

Starmer’s former chief of staff says he does not recognise media’s portrayal of him before evidence hearing with MPs• UK politics live – latest updatesMorgan McSweeney has denied claims he bullied civil servants into appointing Peter Mandelson as UK ambassador to the UK, before an evidence hearing with MPs next week.Keir Starmer’s former chief of staff resigned in February over his role in the hiring of Mandelson, but the move failed to end the crisis over the peer’s appointment. On Thursday, McSweeney told a security forum in Kyiv that he did not recognise his “character” portrayed in the media. Continue reading...

The department of justice has refused to hand over key evidence from the Jeffrey Epstein files and could delay Scotland Yard’s criminal inquiry.Good morning. The UK criminal investigation into Peter Mandelson has reportedly ground to a halt after the US justice department refused to hand over evidence contained in the Epstein files.The documents relate to the late convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein, which Scotland Yard believes could hold key evidence related to Mandelson, who served as business secretary and US ambassador. While the Met has asked for voluntary disclosure, the US department of justice is insisting on a Mutual Legal Assistance (MLA) request, a legal back and forth between countries to obtain evidence, the Telegraph has reported. Continue reading...

HMRC owed more than £640,00 by company that advised clients such as TikTok, GSK and PalantirPeter Mandelson’s former consultancy business, Global Counsel, went bust owing £4.6m – including more than £600,000 to the taxman – a report by the group’s administrators reveals.The company, which provided advice to high-profile clients including Chinese-owned TikTok, US tech business Palantir and UK pharmaceutical firm GSK, collapsed into administration in February, after it lost a series of accounts over the peer’s relationship with the convicted child sex offender Jeffrey Epstein. Continue reading...

Where Olly Robbins relied on recollections, Cabinet Office’s top civil servant was at pains to link her account to paper trail Seen through the Westminster bubble, the Peter Mandelson vetting affair looks like an age-old conflict pitting ministers against mandarins. Yet the latest top civil servant to testify to parliament over what some are now calling “Mandygate” gave an intriguing account that suggested it has never been as simple as that.Cat Little, the top civil servant at the Cabinet Office, did not put it in these terms, but what she revealed was an extraordinary dispute between the country’s most senior civil servants. Continue reading...

Karl Turner, who lost Labour whip after criticising PM, calls for privileges committee to examine if Starmer misled parliamentUK politics live – latest updatesA 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. Continue reading...

Top civil servant reveals more details of vetting process and lack of paper trail for approval of Mandelson’s appointment UK politics live – latest updatesIn more than 90 minutes of evidence to the foreign affairs select committee about the Peter Mandelson scandal, Cat Little, the head civil servant in the Cabinet Office, was low key and often cautious.But she did reveal several pieces of new information – or at times information different to that given to the same committee by Olly Robbins, the former permanent secretary at the Foreign Office. Continue reading...

In evidence to MPs, Cabinet Office’s top civil servant disputes claim her department suggested vetting might not be neededUK politics live – latest updatesOlly Robbins refused to hand Peter Mandelson’s vetting summary to the Cabinet Office, the civil servant who leads the department has said.The summary – which would have revealed that Robbins, the now-sacked Foreign Office head, had granted Mandelson clearance against the advice of security officials – was instead provided to Cat Little by UK Security Vetting, she said. Continue reading...

Permanent secretary, Cat Little, to give evidence to foreign affairs committee as pressure increases on Keir Starmer The UK government budget came in below its annual borrowing target by £700m, official figures show – but the Iran war is likely to blow a hole in Rachel Reeves’s carefully calculated fiscal “headroom” over the coming months. Tom Knowles has the story.Good morning. As Kiran Stacey, Pippa Crerar and Jessica Elgot report in the Guardian’s splash, “Keir Starmer is looking increasingly isolated over his handling of the Peter Mandelson scandal with divisions emerging in cabinet over his decision to sack the Foreign Office civil servant Olly Robbins.” Continue reading...

Mandelson received two ‘clearance denied’ red ticks yet top Foreign Office civil servant says he did not have access to file – which he later readUK politics live – latest updatesThe verdict on Olly Robbins’ parliamentary testimony, among fellow knights of the civil service realm at least, was unanimous. Lord Sedwill, a former Cabinet secretary, called on the prime minister to “retract his accusations against Olly Robbins and reinstate him”.Simon McDonald, who once held Robbins’ job as top civil servant in the Foreign Office, said if Keir Starmer had only waited to hear his evidence to the foreign affairs select committee he would never have sacked him. Continue reading...

Former cabinet secretary Mark Sedwill has called for Robbins to be reinstated at the Foreign Office after his evidence to MPsGood morning. Keir Starmer faces PMQs today with the Peter Mandelson vetting row still dominating the Westminster agenda and – in the view of most observers familiar with the views of Labour MPs – the wagons of doom circling in, ever closer, on the Starmer premiership. In an ideal world, the fate of prime ministers would be decided by the big issues, not arcane scandals and personality spats. But we don’t live in the ideal world; we live in 21st century Britain, where everyone has social media on their phone. And even if you don’t care much about Mandelson, there is a link between how Starmer has handled this and wider government failures.Starmer’s position got worse yesterday as Olly Robbins, the person he sacked as Foreign Office permanent secretary, gave evidence to MPs. Here is our overnight story about it by Pippa Crerar and Kiran Stacey.The prime minister appointed Peter Mandelson against official advice, announced that appointment without security vetting having been completed and claims that he would have changed his mind had he been told that the vetting process had raised the concerns about Mandelson’s previous conduct of which he was already well aware.As Robbins explained yesterday, the question for him was not whether to tell the prime minister what he already knew, but whether those issues could be mitigated enough to allow Mandelson access to the secret intelligence necessary to do his job. He made the professional judgment that they could. Unwisely as it turned out, he shouldered his responsibilities rather than shunting them. Continue reading...

Sacked civil servant acknowledges ‘debate’ about release of documents after question about alleged ‘cover-up’Olly Robbins responded to a question about an alleged “cover-up” on Tuesday by confirming that government officials had considered withholding Peter Mandelson’s secretive vetting documents from parliament.Robbins, who was sacked by Keir Starmer as the Foreign Office’s top civil servant last week, appeared to confirm a report in the Guardian that senior officials were debating whether to withhold from parliament sensitive documents that revealed the vetting agency did not believe Mandelson should get clearance. Continue reading...

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...

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...

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...

Energy secretary says both he and the then foreign secretary were worried making Mandelson US envoy was riskyUK politics live – latest updatesEd Miliband and David Lammy discussed concerns about the appointment of Peter Mandelson as the UK’s ambassador to Washington which they feared could “blow up”, the energy secretary has revealed.Miliband said he had spoken to Lammy, who was foreign secretary at the time Mandelson was given the Washington post, with both expressing reservations. 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...