Sacked Foreign Office chief’s explosive broadside at Starmer: No10 ‘pressured’ him into waving by means of Mandelson and ‘dismissed’ safety vetting

Keir Starmer‘s hopes of surviving the Mandelson scandal were dealt a hammer blow today as his sacked Foreign Office chief said he was ‘pressured’ into waving through the appointment.

In explosive testimony to MPs, Sir Olly Robbins said No10 ‘chased’ the posting as US ambassador and was ‘dismissive’ of the need for any security vetting.

The intervention came after the mandarin was squarely blamed by Sir Keir for failing to tell him officials had advised against giving Mandelson the key job.

During a marathon Commons appearance last night – during which the Labour benches alarmingly emptied behind him – Sir Keir said he had been ‘deliberately’ kept in the dark. 

But Sir Olly – who took on his role after Mandelson was publicly announced, but before he was formally confirmed as US envoy – said there was an ‘atmosphere of pressure’. 

‘I walked into a situation in which there was already a very very strong expectation… that he needed to be in post and in America as soon as possible,’ he said. 

The civil servant said he had received a letter terminating his employment yesterday. He is now thought to be consulting lawyers, with fears he will be in line for a huge payoff. 

Earlier, Ed Miliband heaped woe on the premier by revealing he had warned against making Mandelson US ambassador.

The Net Zero Secretary said he told David Lammy he thought the appointment could ‘blow up’ – and the then-Foreign Secretary shared his concerns. 

The furore has renewed doubts about whether Sir Keir can cling on in No10, after he was almost ousted in a coup in February. It is barely a fortnight until local elections where Labour is facing a battering at the hands of Reform.

Yesterday Scottish Secretary Douglas Alexander raised eyebrows by saying it was ‘not certain’ the PM would lead Labour into the next election.

Sir Olly said he had been verbally briefed on the security vetting process, and had been told the team were ‘leaning’ towards rejecting Mandelson.

However, he argued officials agreed there were ways of managing the risks and he had been empowered to go ahead.

By the stage Sir Olly became head of the Foreign Office, he said the Cabinet Office had carried out due diligence, the King had already approved the posting, and the US had agreed. 

In a letter to the committee, Sir Olly said: ‘Due diligence (which assesses reputational suitability and checks if a candidate is fit to serve) had been completed by the Cabinet Office,’ he said.

‘Mandelson was being granted access to highly-classified briefing on a case-by-case basis.’

He said this ‘resulted in a dismissive approach to DV (developed vetting) from Number 10 Downing Street (No 10) for the remainder of the process. Nonetheless, despite this atmosphere of pressure, the department completed DV to the normal high standard.’

Sir Olly said: ‘After the announcement, I believe the Cabinet Office raised whether Developed Veƫting was actually necessary. 

‘I understand the FCDO insisted that DV was a requirement before Mandelson took up his post in Washington.’ 

Mr Miliband insists he has no ambitions to take over from Sir Keir – but many at Westminster regard him as on manoeuvres.

Another potential rival, Angela Rayner, is set to make a pointed intervention urging Labour to be ‘bolder’ at a conference this evening. 

Mandelson spent nine months as US ambassador before fresh details of his relationship with paedophile Jeffrey Epstein emerged.

He was a political appointment to the plum diplomatic role, rather than the Washington job going to a career diplomat.

Touring broadcast studios for the Government this morning, Mr Miliband said Sir Keir had acknowledged Mandelson should never have been appointed.

He told Sky News: ‘I steered well clear of Peter Mandelson when I became Labour leader in 2010’.

Asked what he thought when Lord Mandelson’s appointment was announced, he said: ‘That it could blow up, that it could go wrong.’

He added: ‘I had a conversation with David Lammy about it before the appointment and I said I was worried about it … I think he was worried about it too.’

Pressed if Sir Keir Starmer should lose his job, he said: ‘I don’t think so, no. Obviously I don’t.

‘I think prime ministers make errors. Prime ministers are fallible. Prime ministers are human. ‘

Donald Trump waded into the row overnight, jibing that Mandelson was a ‘really bad pick’ for the job of US ambassador.

Escalating his spat with the PM over the Iran war and trade, the US President wrote on Truth Social: ‘Prime Minister Keir Starmer of the United Kingdom acknowledged that he ‘exercised wrong judgement’ when he chose his Ambassador to Washington.

‘I agree, he was a really bad pick.’

Mr Trump added: ‘Plenty of time to recover, however! President DJT.’

One of Sir Keir’s reasons for picking Mandelson was his hope that the smooth-talking Labour veteran would charm Trump.

That seemed to pay off when, during a trade deal announcement in May 2025, the President purred over Mandelson’s ‘beautiful accent’.

Sir Keir endured a torrid grilling in the Commons yesterday, with Speaker Lindsay Hoyle allowing the session to run for nearly two and a half hours following his own clash with the PM the previous week.

The premier was drowned out by mocking laughter as he acknowledged that his own version of events ‘beggars belief’.

He struggled to explain why he appointed Mandelson before he had been vetted, despite being warned about his friendship with Epstein and business links to China and Russia.

Sir Keir denied misleading MPs over his decision to appoint the disgraced Labour peer as ambassador to the United States.

He admitted it had been a mistake to bring back Mandelson, describing it as ‘wrong’ – and insisted he would ‘take responsibility’ for that.

But he claimed he would never have given the Labour grandee the job if he had known that he failed security vetting.

Instead he angrily blamed the Foreign Office and Sir Olly.