No10’s ‘jobs for the boys’ try to get ex-Starmer spinner a prime diplomatic publish is defended by … Starmer’s anti-corruption champion

Keir Starmer‘s anti-corruption champion last night defended secret attempts by No10 to land the PM’s former spin chief a plum diplomatic posting.

Baroness Hodge said there was ‘nothing wrong’ with people helping their friends find work, amid claims that Downing Street pressured the Foreign Office to find a job for Matthew Doyle.

Sacked mandarin Sir Olly Robbins, a former permanent secretary at the Foreign Office, told MPs yesterday that No 10 had initiated ‘several discussions’ with him about the prospect of making Lord Doyle an ambassador.

He said he ‘felt quite uncomfortable’ about the suggestion, and added that he was asked to keep it from then-foreign secretary David Lammy, and had warned it would be ‘hard for me personally to defend’.

Lord Doyle has said he was unaware of any lobbying on his behalf for a position as head of mission or ‘any equivalent leadership-type posting’.

Although he was never given an ambassadorship he was handed a peerage later last year – but was then suspended from Labour over his links to a convicted paedophile.

But speaking on the BBC’s Newsnight Baroness Hodge, the former MP  who was made the Prime Minister’s anti-corruption champion in 2024, defended what happened.

She criticised officials for keeping their request a secret from Mr Lammy, but added: ‘If somebody you’re working with is about to loose your job, there’s nothing wrong, I think, in saying, are there any other jobs available, as long as, you know, that he could apply for, going through due process to get those jobs.’

Asked if this was not ‘cronyism’ she added: ‘As long as the process then for appointment is fair and just and open and proper, that’s all right.’

Baroness Hodge said there was ‘nothing wrong’ with people helping their friends find work, amid claims that Downing Street pressured the Foreign Office to find a job for Matthew Doyle

Although Doyle was never given an ambassadorship he was handed a peerage later last year – but was then suspended from Labour over his links to a convicted paedophile

Sir Olly, the Whitehall veteran said he was unsure ‘who exactly was behind’ the idea regarding Lord Doyle or ‘how serious it was’, but that it was ‘serious enough for No 10 private office to call the head of the diplomatic service and ask for a forward look of available head of mission jobs’.

Former ambassador to the US Lord Mandelson was also asked about the prospect of a diplomatic role in Washington for Lord Doyle, Sir Olly suggested.

Sir Olly said the suggestion from No 10 came shortly after he took over leading the Foreign Office in January last year, at a time when senior diplomats were at risk of losing their jobs as part of departmental restructuring discussions. 

Addressing MPs after Sir Olly’s evidence on Tuesday, Foreign Secretary Yvette Cooper said Lord Doyle would not have been an ‘appropriate’ choice, adding: ‘I am, of course, extremely concerned at any suggestion that the permanent secretary or permanent under-secretary of the Foreign Office would be told not to inform the Foreign Secretary.’

And a Labour MP told Politico’s Playbook newsletter: ‘[It’s] all about pushing through jobs for the boys, no matter what they’ve done.’ 

Lord Doyle had the Labour whip withdrawn earlier this year after it emerged he had campaigned on behalf of a friend who had been charged with possessing indecent images of children.

The peer apologised for backing then councillor Sean Morton before the case against him had concluded, saying he believed the paedophile’s assertions of innocence before Morton later admitted the offending.

He had stepped down as the Prime Minister’s communications chief last March.  

Work and Pensions Secretary Pat McFadden squirmed as he was pressed today on whether Sir Keir personally pushed the Foreign Office to make Doyle an ambassador – admitting he had not asked No10 before going out to defend the Government’s position. 

In a statement on Tuesday, Lord Doyle said: ‘I have never sought any head of mission, ambassador or any equivalent leadership-type posting.

‘I was never aware of anyone speaking to the FCDO (Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office) about such a role for me.

‘My desire after leaving No 10 was to stay in UK politics.’