Politics Home | Former Foreign Office Chief Accuses No 10 Of “Dismissive Approach” To Mandelson’s Vetting

Olly Robbins was appointed as Foreign Office permanent secretary in January 2025 (Alamy)

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Speaking to MPs on Tuesday morning, Robbins said there was “no interest in whether, only interest in when” Mandelson would be appointed to his role.

Robbins was sacked by Prime Minister Keir Starmer last week after The Guardian reported that Mandelson had not cleared the UK Security Vetting (UKSV) procedure for appointment as US ambassador in late January 2025, before starting the role in February 2025.

According to the newspaper, the decision to overrule the UKSV was made by the Foreign Office without the knowledge of Starmer or other senior cabinet ministers.

Speaking to the Foreign Affairs Select Committee on Tuesday morning, Robbins said the UKSV felt the Mandelson case was “borderline” and was “leaning towards recommending that clearance be denied”, but that the Foreign Office deemed the risks manageable.

He sought to stress that Mandelson did not ‘fail’ vetting.

However, in evidence that will likely put more pressure on Starmer’s judgement, Robbins said the Foreign Office had faced “constant pressure” from the No 10 private office to process Mandelson’s appointment as soon as possible, but refused to name any individual officials.

The former Foreign Office chief said that when he started as permanent secretary, there was “already a very, very strong expectation” that Mandelson would be appointed as the UK’s ambassador in Washington and that “he needed to be in post and in America as quickly as humanly possible”. 

“He [Mandelson] had been given access to the building,” Robbins said, adding that he had also been given access to “higher classification” briefings before being formally appointed.

He said that the handover briefing he received when he started his role showed a “generally dismissive attitude” to Mandelson’s vetting clearance.

“The focus was on getting Mandelson out to Washington quickly,” he continued.

“Despite an atmosphere of pressure, the department completed developed vetting to the normal, high standard, because the vetting process is not there to determine fitness for office or reputational risk. It’s there to protect national security.”

However, he said it would have been “very difficult indeed” to block Mandelson’s appointment on security grounds once the vetting process had concluded, given it had already been publicly confirmed.

Robbins said the Cabinet Office took the position that it was unnecessary to vet Mandelson at all, but that the Foreign Office insisted and “put its foot down”.

Robbins’ comments come after Starmer telling the Commons on Monday that it “beggars belief” that the Foreign Office withheld information over issues in Mandelson’s vetting and that neither he nor his cabinet were informed prior to Mandelson starting the job.

“That is not how the vast majority of people in this country expect politics, government or accountability to work.”

Starmer’s decision to appoint Mandelson to the role despite being aware of his relationship with paedophile financier Jeffrey Epstein has put significant pressure on his leadership.

Mandelson, who was a key figure in the New Labour governments of Tony Blair and Gordon Brown, is currently being investigated by the police over allegations that he leaked confidential government documents to Epstein while in office.

Speaking this morning, Robbins said UKSV’s primary concerns with Mandelson’s appointment did not relate to Epstein.

The former chief civil servant also revealed that he was asked to find an ambassadorship role for former No 10 comms chief Matthew Doyle.

He added that he was asked not to tell Foreign Secretary Yvette Cooper about the request, and that he found it uncomfortable.

“It was, to be honest, hard to find something that I thought might be suitable, but I also felt quite uncomfortable about it, and I kept giving advice that I thought this would be very hard for the office, and was hard for me, personally, to defend,” he said.

Doyle, who was appointed as a life peer by Starmer in December, was suspended from Labour’s parliamentary party in February of this year over his past association with a convicted sex offender.