Mandelson latest: Olly Robbins suggests PM should have blocked peer’s appointment over Epstein links

Sacked civil servant tells MPs No 10 wanted Mandelson in Washington as quickly as ‘humanly possible’
Sir Olly Robbins has suggested that Sir Keir Starmer should have decided against appointing Lord Peter Mandelson after reputational risks were uncovered, in his first direct criticism of the prime minister.

The top mandarin said: "I regret that the due diligence process which threw up, as I understand it, serious reputational risks didn't colour the prime minister's judgement."
The due diligence report, which took place before the Labour peer was named as nominee, mentioned red flags relating to his friendship with Jeffrey Epstein and his business links to China.

Sir Olly told the Foreign Affairs Committee that there was “pressure” for the Foreign Office to approve Lord Peter Mandelson to the post of US ambassador, and No10 displayed a “dismissive approach” to vetting.

The former top civil servant said that there was “no interest in whether, only interest in when” the Labour peer could be appointed, and there was a push to have him in Washington as quickly as “humanly possible”.

His appearance before MPs is a chance to respond to Sir Keir Starmer , who blamed the sacked senior civil servant for “deliberately” keeping him in the dark over the Labour peer’s security checks.

Analysis: Sir Olly Robbins evidence deeply damaging for Starmer
Analysis by Kate Devlin, Whitehall Editor
That will have been a deeply uncomfortable viewing experience for No 10 and the PM.

Olly Robbins laid out a series of bombshell revelations to MPs.

We learned the extraordinary fact that, despite what was in the public domain about his links to Jeffrey Epstein, the Cabinet Office did not want to vet Mandelson at all before sending him to the US.

That No10 had a "dismissive approach'' to vetting and wanted Mandelson in Washington as quickly as ‘humanly possible’.

And that, in the opinion of Robbins, there was already enough in the ‘due diligence’ report done before vetting that should have led the PM to block the appointment.

Extraordinarily, it also emerged that No 10 had tried to find a diplomatic job for Matthew Doyle, then the PM’s chief of communications, now a peer who Labour was forced to suspend earlier this year over his links to a convicted paedophile.

That could have left Sir Keir forced to sack two Labour grandees, Mandelson and Doyle, over ties links to a paedophile within a single year.

But the evidence from Robbins also cast doubt on the reason the PM says he sacked him - that he should have told Sir Keir that the recommendation was that Mandelson not receive security clearance.

But Robbins insisted he did not see that report, part of which was published by the government earlier this week, and was only told that the body that vets appointments was “borderline” on Mandelson.

The last two and a half hours will have been deeply uncomfortable for Sir Keir, who is now facing more questions to answer.

Sir Olly says he is 'desperately sad' over dismissal
Sir Olly Robbins has said he is “desperately, desperately sad” about his dismissal, and suggested he could pursue a “separate process” to understand the reasons behind his sacking.

He told the Foreign Affairs Committee: “I don’t fully understand the reasons that I’m in the position I am in.

But that is for the separate process for me to try to get to the bottom of.”
Sir Olly added that he was “desperately, desperately sad” about his departure, saying: “I loved that job, I loved that institution, I was proud to serve this Government and any government that might follow it.

I hope I was doing it to the best of my ability, I was certainly doing it as hard as I possibly could.

I had wonderful colleagues who I miss deeply.

“And the issues we were dealing with and my colleagues are still dealing with are of profound importance to the success of this Government and the success of the country.”
Alleged leaking to Guardian is 'grievous breach of national security'
The leaking of details about Lord Mandelson failing security checks was a “grievous breach of national security” and prosecutions should follow, Sir Olly Robbins said.

Sir Olly said it was deeply worrying that the story was given to The Guardian newspaper within days of the Cabinet Office briefing Number 10 on the vetting issues.

“I’m not making accusations at anybody, it’s not my business to do so,” he told the committee, adding: “I hope they’re being very rigorously investigated, and that prosecutions will result, because this is a grievous breach of national security.

“I’m not an investigator, all I’m able to do is put two and two together.

“The first I heard of this deep concern and briefing of it to the Prime Minister was only really hours before it appeared in The Guardian.”
Robbins suggests Starmer knew enough about Mandelson to block his appointment - even without the vetting outcome
Analysis, by Kate Devlin, Whitehall Editor
The prime minister’s key defence in this whole row is that if someone had told him that Mandelson had failed crucial security vetting he would not have made him as the UK’s man in Washington.

But, in his evidence to MPs, Olly Robbins suggests the PM did have enough information to block the appointment.

He highlighted the ‘due diligence’ process, carried out before the vetting check, which, Mr Robbins added “threw up serious reputational risks”.

Mr Robbins told MPs: "I regret that the due diligence process, which threw up serious reputational risks, didn’t colour the PM's judgement in making the appointment".

Watch: I regret PM made appointment despite due diligence concerns
'I don't reflect negatively on my judgements,' Sir Olly says
Sir Olly Robbins said he does not “reflect negatively” on his own judgment or that of his colleagues.

Asked about whether he thinks about the consequences of the decision he made regarding Lord Mandelson’s clearance, he told the Foreign Affairs Committee: “I’ve had plenty of opportunity over the last few days to reflect on that.

Bombshell evidence so far from Olly Robbins
There have been a number of bombshell revelations already in the testimony from the former top official at the Foreign Office, sacked last week by Keir Starmer over the Mandelson scandal.

Robbins: I regret PM made appointment despite due diligence concerns
Sir Olly Robbins has said he “regrets” that due diligence concerns raised about Peter Mandelson did not “colour the prime minister’s judgement” in his decision to appoint him as US ambassador.

Giving evidence to the Foreign Affairs Committee, Sir Olly said he “regrets” that the full security vetting process was not done before the government announced Mandelson’s appointment, but said he does not regret the “work of my brilliant team and the judgment that we came to”.

“I regret that this process was not done before announcement.

I regret that the due diligence process, which threw up as I understand it, serious reputational risks, didn't colour the prime minister's judgment in making the appointment,” he said.

He added: “What I feel sad about, is that the prime minister's nominee went ahead despite that due diligence.”
'Dangerous misunderstanding' of vetting confidentiality, Sir Olly says
Asked whether Sir Keir Starmer is right to have expected to be provided with more information on the vetting process, Sir Olly Robbins said that is a “dangerous misunderstanding” of confidentiality around the process.

The former Foreign Office chief told the Foreign Affairs Committee: “I hope it’s clear from everything I have said so far that I believe that’s a misunderstanding and a dangerous misunderstanding of the necessity of confidentiality of the process.

“I’ve been interested, of course, over the last couple of days to read Lord Hague on this today and David Lammy even on Saturday, the former foreign secretary, deputy prime minister, where both have said in different language that they have never had vetting issues discussed with them in all their time as a minister and nor would they expect to.

Not a 'given' that Mandelson would be vetted, Sir Olly says
Sir Olly Robbins said it was not a “given” that Lord Mandelson would be vetted for his appointment as US ambassador.

The former senior civil servant told the Foreign Affairs Committee: “It was not a … I’m afraid I don’t think at the point of his appointment and for days thereafter it was actually a given that he would be vetted.

“If you look at the documents submitted under the humble address there is no stipulation from number 10 that he should be vetted.

“The welcome that was sent to him immediately afterwards doesn’t say welcome to the Foreign Office subject to vetting; the announcement put out on December 20 says that he will be out early in the new year, it does not say subject to vetting.”
He said the contract issued to Lord Mandelson after he was vetted said he must maintain his clearance “but nothing about his appointment actually, as far as I’ve seen in writing, stipulates it”.

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