What The Mandel The Candidates are asked about very personal areas like friendships, family, health and sex life, sometimes over several hours.A higher level of clearance, known as Enhanced Developed Vetting, also exists for a small number of positions, though Mandelson did not need to undergo this for the ambassador role.What happens when someone fails a DV check?Downing Street says it learned this week that the Foreign Office, which oversaw Mandelson’s DV process, granted him clearance “against the recommendation” of the vetting agency.BBC News understands UKSV gave the Foreign Office an explicit recommendation not to approve Mandelson’s vetting.It is understood the agency presented the Foreign Office with a list of potential risks as well as a recommendation summing up those risks, which sources said could be described as falling into one of three categories: yes, yes with caveats, or, no.Sources say the recommendation given to the Foreign Office by the vetting services was a “no”.Sir Olly Robbins, the Foreign Office’s top civil servant who was sacked on Thursday over the awarding of clearance to Mandelson, told MPs in November that clearance decisions are usually signed off by low-ranking officials based on the findings of the vetting report, though decisions can be escalated to senior leaders in specific cases.The Foreign Office is believed to be the only government department in Whitehall with the authority to overrule such a recommendation.Clearance can be awarded with measures in place to manage to risk. The The Sir Sir Why Star
