Olly Robbins launches attack on Keir Starmer like a man with nothing to lose

The one-time top civil servant in the Foreign Office has said Downing Street put huge pressure on his staff to back Peter Mandelson’s appointment as US Ambassador.

Sir Olly Robbins was sacked last week amid revelations the ex-Labour grandee was given the all-clear to take the post despite concerns from the government’s vetting agency.

Speaking to the Foreign Affairs committee his morning, he said there was a ‘very strong expectation’ from No 10 that Mandelson should be ‘in post and in America as quickly as humanly possible.’
While he said the final decision was ‘rigorously independent of that pressure’, Robbins argued it would have been ‘very difficult indeed’ to say no.

The appointment had ‘been through all these steps, very publicly’ including the official announcement and blessing of the King, while formal letters were being sent from No 10 ‘telling us to get on with it quickly’, he said.

His comments came as Sir Keir Starmer has faced new scrutiny over his decision to hand the former peer – a close friend of paedophile Jeffrey Epstein – the top role in British diplomacy after the vetting issues were revealed.

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No 10 has blamed that situation on civil servants in the Foreign Office who gave Starmer’s pick the green light without mentioning the concerns.

Addressing the House of Commons yesterday, the Prime Minister insisted he ‘would not have gone ahead with the appointment’ if he had known officials had recommended clearance be denied.

But this morning, Robbins said it was not a ‘given’ that Mandelson would be vetted at all, and a debate was still taking place between two government departments when the appointment was announced.

Who is Sir Olly Robbins?

Sir Olly Robbins, who was sacked last week as the head of the British diplomatic service, has had a long career in the non-political side of government.

He first worked on Downing Street under Tony Blair before serving as one of David Cameron’s Deputy National Security Advisors.

His most prominent role in the public eye was as Theresa May’s top Brexit negotiator for the first withdrawal agreement, later rejected by Parliament.

After six years away from government, he was appointed as Permanent Under-Secretary at the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office in January 2025 – becoming the most senior civil servant in one of the most prominent departments.

Shortly after taking up the post, he was responsible for the decision to overrule the UKSV’s conclusion on Lord Mandelson’s vetting.

That sowed the seeds of his departure last week, when the story emerged in the press.

The Cabinet Office, he told the committee, had argued there was no need to vet the chosen candidate as he was a member of the House of Lords and Privy Council.

Targeting Starmer specifically, he added that ‘the risks attending his appointment were well-known and had been made clear to the Prime Minister before appointment.’
Robbins told MPs: ‘The very first formal communication of this to my predecessor from No 10 private office was that they wanted all this done at pace and Mandelson in post before [President Trump’s] inauguration.’
He continued: ‘I’m afraid what that translated into for my team in the Foreign Office, and certainly the handover briefing I was getting as I arrived at post, was what I felt was a generally dismissive attitude to his vetting clearance.’
However, he also said he never had access to the full assessment by UK Security Vetting (UKSV), the government agency that carried out the process.

He told the committee he was told the conclusion of the agency was that Mandelson’s case was ‘borderline’ and that they were ‘leaning against, recommending against’.

The civil servant also contradicted the PM’s argument that it was not unusual for vetting to take place after an appointment was announced.

He said it would have been ‘very, very sensible’ to wait for the completion of the vetting process before the announcement, particularly for an appointee who was not already in the diplomatic service.

Starmer said he has since changed the rules to ensure checks take place before candidates are confirmed in post.

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