Politics Home | Keir Starmer Sacks Foreign Office Permanent Secretary Over Mandelson Vetting Row

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Prime Minister Keir Starmer and Foreign Secretary Yvette Cooper have lost confidence in Olly Robbins, who will be standing down as the department’s permanent secretary as a result, PoliticsHome understands.

His departure comes after The Guardian reported on Thursday that Mandelson was appointed the UK ambassador to the US in 2024 despite failing his security vetting.

No 10 later released a statement saying that the Foreign Office was responsible for the vetting process and went ahead with appointing Mandelson to the job in Washington despite the failure, without telling the Prime Minister or any other minister.

Downing Street added that Starmer had been first made aware earlier this week.

The Prime Minister is expected to make a statement to the House of Commons on Monday to correct previous statements he has made about the process by which Mandelson was appointed.

He is expected to tell MPs that he did not unknowingly mislead Parliament when he said that due process had been followed in the appointment.

Starmer sacked Mandelson as the UK ambassador to Washington in September amid controversy over his links to paedophile financier Jeffrey Epstein.

The Prime Minister’s decision to appoint the former cabinet minister to the senior diplomatic position despite being aware of his relationship with Epstein has come under intense scrutiny.

In February, Morgan McSweeney resigned as Starmer’s chief of staff over the episode.

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.

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