Foreign Office official says there was ‘dismissive approach’ to Mandelson vetting

Former Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office (FCDO) boss Sir Olly Robbins appearing before the Foreign Affairs Committee at the Houses of Parliament in London (Picture: House of Commons/UK Parliament/PA Wire)

A former senior civil servant has criticised how Downing Street handled the security vetting for Lord Peter Mandelson’s US Ambassador role.

Olly Robbins, who lost his job last week in the Foreign Office, said there was a ‘very strong expectation’ from 10 Downing Street that Mandelson should be ‘in post and in America as quickly as humanly possible.’

He made the comments as Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer has come under increased pressure over his decision to hand the former Labour grandee the top role in British diplomacy, since it emerged last week he failed vetting after the announcement was made.

No 10 has blamed that situation on figures in the Foreign Office who gave Starmer’s pick the green light without mentioning the vetting issues.

Giving evidence at the Foreign Affairs Committee this morning, he told MPs: ‘I walked into a situation in which there was already a very very strong expectation […] coming from No 10 that he needed to be in America and in post as quickly as humanly possible.

‘The very first formal communication of this to my predecessor from No 10 private office being that they wanted all this done at pace and Mandelson in post before [President Trump’s inauguration.]

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‘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.

‘The focus was on getting Mandelson out to Washington quickly. Despite this atmosphere, an atmosphere of pressure, the Department completed developed vetting to the normal high standard because the vetting process is not there to determine fitness for office or reputational risk, it is there to protect national security.’

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