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Olly Robbins’ account of Mandelson vetting piles pressure on Keir Starmer

Sacked civil servant tells select committee of ‘pressure’ to give clearance and ‘dismissive’ attitude to vetting The civil servant sacked by Keir Starmer has given a devastating account of his government, saying… Grouped from 2 articles across 1 sources.

2 reports1 sourceApr 21, 2026, 8:23 PM
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The GuardianApr 21, 2026, 8:23 PM

Olly Robbins’ account of Mandelson vetting piles pressure on Keir Starmer

Sacked civil servant tells select committee of ‘pressure’ to give clearance and ‘dismissive’ attitude to vetting The civil servant sacked by Keir Starmer has given a devastating account of his government, saying Downing Street put huge pressure on the civil service to approve the appointment of Peter Mandelson as Washington ambassador despite the concerns of vetting officials. Olly Robbins, the former top official at the Foreign Office, said No 10 took a “dismissive” attitude to vetting, and Mandelson was given access to the Foreign Office building and to “higher-classification briefings” before he was granted security clearance. Continue reading...

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The GuardianApr 21, 2026, 11:03 AM

Olly Robbins says he faced ‘constant pressure’ to get Mandelson in post

Sacked civil servant discloses he overturned vetting ruling without knowing full extent of national security concerns UK politics live – latest updates The sacked senior civil servant Oliver Robbins has said he was subject to “constant pressure” when he arrived in the Foreign Office to get Peter Mandelson in post as soon as possible. He said the Cabinet Office urged the Foreign Office to allow Mandelson’s appointment as the UK’s ambassador to the US without the usual vetting process but the Foreign Office pushed back and the vetting eventually went ahead. Continue reading...

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