Olly Robbins questioned over Mandelson vetting failure
Sir Olly Robbins told the Foreign Affairs Committee that there had been an “atmosphere of pressure” on the Foreign Office from Number 10 to get Lord Peter Mandelson to Washington speedily after he was announced as US ambassador.
Robbins, who was fired by Sir Keir Starmer as head of the Foreign Office over the Mandelson vetting affair, gave his account of events to MPs.
He insisted that the FCDO had “vigorously” followed the correct process, and that it would have been “very difficult” to stop Mandelson’s appointment as the government pushed for a quick resolution.
Robbins also told the select committee that senior figures in the Cabinet Office believed there was no need to undertake security vetting of Mandelson for the job of ambassador.
Kemi Badenoch, the Conservative Party leader, has alleged that Sir Olly Robbins’ evidence demonstrates that Sir Keir Starmer misled parliament, a charge which Starmer has denied.
Robbins’ evidence came a day after Starmer tried to pin the blame on the former civil servant, claiming his department “deliberately” and repeatedly covered up Mandelson’s failed vetting test.
Revelations about ex-comms chief ‘damning’, Lib Dems say
Liberal Democrat leader Ed Davey has described the news that Downing Street sought a diplomatic role for its former communications head, who was later linked to a convicted paedophile, as “incredibly damning”.
Sir Olly Robbins told the committee that Downing Street had initiated “several discussions . . . about potentially finding a head of mission opportunity for Matthew Doyle” in March 2025, asking him not to tell David Lammy, the then foreign secretary.
It was revealed last December that the ex-communications chief, who was granted a peerage earlier that month, had previously campaigned for a councillor who was a convicted paedophile.
“This is incredibly damning for Keir Starmer,” said Davey.
“Every day this scandal gets worse, and it becomes clearer that the only way to draw a line under it is for Starmer to go.”
Robbins says he is ‘desperately, desperately sad’
Olly Robbins concluded more than two hours of evidence by telling MPs that “I don’t fully understand the reasons that I’m in the position I am in”.
Asked to reflect on how he has been treated, he said:
The very short answer is I don’t fully understand the reasons that I’m in the position I am in. But that is for a separate process for me to try to get to the bottom of.
As a human being, I’m desperately, desperately sad about it . . . I love that job, I love that institution, I was proud to serve this government and any government that might follow it.
Robbins declined to say what he discussed with Sir Keir Starmer ahead of his sacking last Thursday, over which he is taking legal advice. “I must remain quiet on that until my advisers have told me what the appropriate thing to do is,” he said.