Key points from sacked official in Mandelson vetting disputeJust nowKate WhannelPolitical ReporterPA MediaSir Olly, the former top civil service at the Foreign Office is giving evidence to the MPs on foreign affairs committee about the role he played in vetting the peer security clearance for the role of the UK’s Ambassador to the US. It comes after Sir Olly, the former top civil servant at the Foreign Office, was effectively sacked by the Foreign Affairs Committee last week when it was revealed that his department had granted peer security clearance to Lord Mandelson for the role of ambassador to the US in January 2025 against the recommendation made by security officials who vetted the man.Lord Mandelson took up the position the following month but was sacked 7 months later because of his ties with the late convicted sexual offender Jeffrey Epstein.Here is the key No 10 had a “dismissive” approach to vettingIn an open letter to the committee, published at the same time as his oral testimony, Sir Olly stated that Lord Mandelson’s appointment was already announced and approved by the US when he arrived at the Foreign Office in January. He also noted that Lord Mandelson already had access to the Foreign Office’s building, as well as a “highly classified briefing given on a case-bycase basis”. He said that these factors “resulted” in a dismissive attitude from Downing Street towards developed vetting – the process necessary to obtain security clearance. Downing Street is under ‘constant pressure’ Sir Olly said that Downing Street had a “strong expectation”, that Lord Mandelson should “be in America and in his post as soon as humanly possible”. He said that his office was “under constant pressure” to complete the vetting. He said later that “I think the department felt pressured, but we were proud that we hadn’t bowed to this pressure.” “Mandelson’s concerns did not pertain to Epstein. In his letter, the ex-civil servant said he hadn’t seen the documentation from UK Security Vetting, the government’s in-house unit for vetting, which contained their vetting evaluation of Lord Mandelson. He said that, instead, he received an oral briefing during which he learned that the vetting agency regarded Mandelson as a “borderline” case and that they “lean towards recommending that clearance is He said UKSV acknowledged the Foreign Office may “want to grant clearance with appropriate risk management”. “The risks were not related to Jeffrey Epstein,” said he. Sir Olly refused to answer questions from Labour MP Emily Thornberry who chairs the committee. Sir Olly said that blocking Mandelson would have created problems with the US. He advised the government to conduct Lord Mandelson’s background check before announcing his appointment. He said that former US President Joe Biden agreed to the appointment near the end of his tenure in office. He added that if the nomination changed after this point, the incoming government would have commented publicly on it and it could have caused a problem in the relationship. Starmer’s Mandelson Statement: Key Points Officials withheld Mandelson’s vetting results from me, Starmer claims.Sign up for the Politics Essential newsletter and read top political analyses, gain insight across the UK, and stay up-to-date with the big moments. It will be delivered to your inbox each weekday. Keir Starmer

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Chris Mason: PM facing awkward hours ahead as Mandelson questions remain1 hour agoChris MasonPolitical editorAFP via Getty ImagesI occasionally like to kid myself that after 20-plus years of reporting from Westminster, I can’t be entirely surprised any more.Then, along came the row of the last few days after The Guardian’s revelations about Lord Mandelson, his vetting and the removal of the most senior civil servant at the Foreign Office, Sir Olly Robbins.It all prompted a one-word question from many of us: how?How could so senior a civil servant be in possession of such apparently politically explosive information and not pass it on to the prime minister and others?And how could a prime minister, embarking on a high-profile and controversial appointment, be so insufficiently curious that he didn’t prise this information out of the government machine?Context is key here: in January of last year, Sir Olly had just arrived at the Foreign Office as its permanent under-secretary.Weeks before, his predecessor, Sir Philip Barton, had worked through the formal niceties of confirming Lord Mandelson’s appointment to Washington, such as writing to the King about it on the 18th of December.In other words, it was a done deal. Whitehall and the civil service were aware of Sir Keir’s wishes. We know that some vetting concerns had been raised with the Prime Minister. The Constitutional Reform and Governance Act 2010 states that the secretary of state is responsible for managing the diplomatic service, but does not cover national security screening. This is a reference for the foreign secretary, and it gives Sir Olly’s anticipated defense, that the law says he should not reveal information gathered during the vetting. But on Sunday night the government released a statement outlining its interpretation of the act, claiming The government even read the explanatory notes to the Act in order to support their position. I suspect the prime minister will also refer to the Civil Service Code. This states that civil servants cannot “deceive, or knowingly mislead Ministers, Parliament, or others The Conservatives hope that Monday afternoon’s debate will “hasten squeaky-bum time for Labour MPs” by suggesting that Sir Keir beheaded more people than Henry VIII. The mood in the Labour Party has changed over the past few weeks. It is no longer as fervently angry. Now the question is whether this fiasco will raise the temperature again. “Let’s face it, this is bad stuff,” said one to me. Another says, “It reignites all the things that made so many angry with him in the first place.” The timing of the elections, which are just a few days away, could not be worse. Meanwhile, the Financial Times reports that Sir Olly may take legal action to challenge his dismissal. It’s not surprising that he was blasted out of the cannon so spectacularly by the foreign secretary and prime minister over the appointment of an Ambassador who had been signed off even before Sir Olly arrived at the Foreign Office. The people who have worked with him describe him as “a by the book man”, who has a distinguished career in the public service, and is “diligent and careful about processes and acting correctly.” The tone and tenor will be as interesting as his testimony. The document sent to him on the same day says “you should submit a new STRAP application form for your new position, at least 3 months before you are due to start at Post”.