The Mandelson story reveals a deep cultural problem – in both Starmer’s No 10 and the Civil Service
Keir Starmer and Peter Mandelson in February 2025 (PA Images / Alamy)
4 min read
“Other people come to me with problems. David brings me solutions.” As political obituaries go, Margaret Thatcher’s praise of Lord Young was about as good as they get.
Who would not rather be the problem-solver than the problem-bringer? The trick, though, lies in knowing the difference between solving the problem and ignoring it – or, worse, sweeping it under the carpet.
When Queen Victoria unveiled a painting of the Duke of Wellington and Marshal Blücher shaking hands after the battle of Waterloo, she demanded, “Why is Field Marshal Blücher wearing a postman’s hat?”
The truth is that Wellington had sent a despatch rider to urge Blücher to join him in battle at Waterloo. In the gloom and his haste, Blücher reached out and grabbed what he thought was his, but was actually the despatch rider’s, hat. And there he sits astride his horse wearing a flat leather cap to this day.
I once asked a group of CEOs I was showing round Parliament why they thought I had told them this story. “Never put your hat on in the dark?” one ventured. Hopeless! No. “The reason I told you is because this is how every big organisation fails,” I explained. “Nobody wants to tell the boss that he looks like a prat because he is wearing the postman’s hat.”
Most leaders surround themselves with people who tell them what they think they want to hear. Good leaders surround themselves with people who are not afraid to tell them the truth.
I have no doubt that the Prime Minister did not deliberately mislead the House of Commons about Peter Mandelson’s developed vetting. As he told the House, he did not know. But there is a deeper truth here: the civil servant believed that the Prime Minister did not want to know.
Imagine you are the new Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office perm sec, en route to the top. The appointment has already been announced by No 10. Then you are told that United Kingdom Security Vetting (UKSV) has recommended against granting Mandelson clearance. You have the power to grant it anyway. What do you do?
Are you the person who brings the PM a problem? Do you say, “I know you have already announced the appointment, but now you must choose: either revoke the appointment, or continue with it in the knowledge that UKSV did not pass him?” Or are you the person who provides a solution?
If that was the decision that Sir Olly Robbins took, the Prime Minister is justified in saying that he has the right to expect his senior civil servants to not only tell him the truth but to tell him the whole truth – everything he needs to know to make a fully informed judgement.
But he also needs to ask himself why the perm sec would even think to conceal this information. The answer seems clear to me: the perm sec knew that the PM wanted Mandelson to be the ambassador and that the PM didn’t like people pointing out he was wearing the postman’s hat.
Leaders create a climate around themselves
Sir Olly did not need and indeed was prohibited from telling the Prime Minister why UKSV had not approved Mr Mandelson. But he was not prohibited, in my view, from telling the Prime Minister the outcome of UKSV’s decision and that he had nonetheless granted security clearance – and he should have told him.
Leaders create a climate around themselves. That can be one of openness and a willingness to take on board contrary views. Or it can be a climate of intolerance and fear. In a more self-reflective moment, perhaps the Prime Minister will reflect on which climate he thinks he and his former chief of staff created in No 10 and more generally in the Labour Party.
Equally, the new head of the Civil Service should perhaps ask herself how most of those in the service believe that preferment comes. My guess is that there is a pattern of concealment from ministers of what are considered inconvenient facts. Want to rise to the very top? Do not get a reputation for exposing problems. Better to provide solutions – even if sometimes that means sweeping untidy truths under the carpet before your minister has a chance to consider them.
Barry Gardiner is Labour MP for Brent West
