Keir Starmer Sacks Foreign Office Permanent Secretary Over Mandelson Vetting Row
2 min read
The most senior civil servant in the Foreign Office is leaving his role over the Lord Mandelson vetting row.
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.
Speaking to the media on Friday morning, Darren Jones, Chief Secretary to the Prime Minister, said Starmer was "furious" not to have been told by officials about Mandelson's vetting failure.
Jones said that he had suspended the Foreign Office's ability to overturn security advice and launched an urgent investigation into how incidents like that could have taken place across government.
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.
Speaking to LBC this morning, Jones said "any scrutiny of his [the PM's] statements to the House will show" that he did not knowingly mislead Parliament.
Foreign Affairs Committee Chair, Labour MP Emily Thornberry, has written to Robbins asking him to give evidence to the committee about Mandelson's vetting on Tuesday.
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.
The Conservatives, Reform UK and Greens all called on Starmer to resign over the latest revelations on Thursday, while the Liberal Democrats said the PM should step down if he had knowingly misled Parliament.
