Olly Robbins, the former permanent secretary at the Foreign Office, has told a parliamentary committee that he was under constant pressure from the Prime Minister’s office to speed up Peter Mandelson’s appointment as ambassador to the US. Robbins, who was dismissed last week, stated that Number 10 displayed a dismissive attitude toward the necessary security vetting for the role.
The controversy follows reports that independent officials recommended denying Mandelson clearance due to his past links to Jeffrey Epstein. Robbins testified that Mandelson was granted access to the Foreign Office building and higher-classification briefings before he was granted security clearance. While the Cabinet Office allegedly urged the Foreign Office to allow the appointment without the usual vetting process, the department pushed back, and the vetting eventually proceeded.
Keir Starmer sacked Robbins for failing to inform him that Mandelson had not passed the UK security vetting. This decision has sparked intense fury within Whitehall, with some characterizing the dismissal as a narrow political endgame. Robbins has raised questions about whether he was misled about the findings of the vetting agency, which he was briefed considered Mandelson a borderline case.
In further testimony, Robbins revealed that Downing Street had also pressured the Foreign Office to find a senior diplomatic role for Matthew Doyle, Starmer’s former communications chief. Doyle was subsequently suspended as a Labour peer after it emerged he had campaigned for a friend charged with possessing indecent images of children.
The ongoing political row has prompted renewed calls for Starmer to resign, although he maintains that due process was followed. Labour MP Sarah Champion noted that while Starmer is unpopular with voters, she believes this is due to personal dislike and opposition campaigns rather than the Mandelson crisis specifically.