Keir Starmer vents fury at Foreign Office over Mandelson vetting scandal – ‘beggars perception’

As the Prime Minister scrambled to contain the fallout from the row, he said it ‘beggars belief’ he wasn’t told the former ambassador to Washington failed security vetting

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Keir Starmer has vented his fury at Foreign Office officials for being kept in the dark over the Peter Mandelson security vetting scandal.

As the Prime Minister scrambled to contain the fallout from the row, he said it “beggars belief” he wasn’t told the former Ambassador to Washington failed vetting.

In a high-stakes Commons showdown, Mr Starmer insisted he would have cancelled Lord Mandelson’s appointment as the UK’s top diplomat in Washington had he known.

Launching an attack on the Foreign Office – days after sacking the top official Sir Olly Robbins at the department – he said there was a “deliberate decision” taken repeatedly not to inform him.

Mr Stamer told MPs: “I know many members across the House will find these facts to be incredible, and to that I can only say that they are right.

“It beggars belief throughout the whole timeline of events, officials in the Foreign Office saw fit to withhold this information from the most senior ministers in our system of government. That is not how the vast majority of people in this country expects politics, government or accountability to work, and I do not think it’s how most public servants think it should work.”

READ MORE: Keir Starmer LIVE: PM to address Parliament over Peter Mandelson vetting scandal

Mr Starmer did not respond to suggestions No10 had been bounced into confirming Lord Mandelson as US ambassador after the appointment was leaked.

This was raised by chairwoman of the Foreign Affairs Committee Dame Emily Thornberry, who said: “Somebody, probably Peter Mandelson himself, leaked to the press his appointment as US ambassador, effectively bouncing the Government into confirming it.

“But then when the confirmation did come forward about his appointment, it did not make clear that it was subject to vetting in either the offer letter to Peter Mandelson or in the Government’s press release.

“I am afraid to say, doesn’t this look like for certain members of the Prime Minister’s team, getting Peter Mandelson the job was a priority that overrode everything else, and that security considerations were very much second order?”

The PM’s statement comes as the former head of the Foreign Office Sir Olly Robbins prepares to face MPs tomorrow morning after being sacked by Mr Starmer on Thursday.

Speaking earlier, a close friend of Sir Olly said he was “heartbroken”. UN official Tom Fletcher said: “I’ve known Olly well for a long time – this is a guy who has public service and integrity stitched into his DNA in a way I haven’t seen in any other single individual.

“And I’ve worked with so many people inside governments. He’s had an utterly rough few days and he’s a pretty strong kind of character, but I think he’s heartbroken.”

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