Sir Olly Robbins told the Foreign Affairs Committee there was an atmosphere of ‘get this done’ on Peter Mandelson’s vetting when he arrived in the Foreign Office in January 2025
Sacked Foreign Office boss Sir Olly Robbins said No10 applied “constant pressure” to get Peter Mandelson to Washington as quickly as possible and took a “dismissive” approach to his vetting.
The former top official came out fighting after Keir Starmer accused the Foreign Office of keeping him in the dark over the shamed peer’s security clearance. In bombshell evidence to the Foreign Affairs Committee, Sir Olly said there was an atmosphere of “get this done” when he arrived in the Foreign Office in January 2025, as the former Labour grandee had already been announced as the PM’s pick to be ambassador in December 2024.
Sir Olly claimed the Cabinet Office had even questioned whether Lord Mandelson needed vetting as he was a member of the House of Lords and a member of the privy council. “I’m afraid I don’t think, at the point of his appointment and for days thereafter, it was actually a given that he would be vetted,” he said.
And in an astonishing revelation, Sir Olly said he’d been ordered to find a top diplomatic post for Matthew Doyle, the PM’s then-spin chief, but was banned from telling David Lammy, who was Foreign Secretary at the time. Doyle was made a peer instead but later lost the Labour whip over his ties to a convicted sex offender.
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The revelations will ratchet up pressure on Mr Starmer, who sacked Sir Olly as Foreign Office permanent secretary last week as the row over Lord Mandelson’s appointment erupted again. The Prime Minister expressed fury to MPs on Monday at being kept in the dark over concerns on his security clearance.
Today, Sir Olly went on the defence, telling MPs: “I’m afraid I walked into a situation in which, there was already a very, very strong expectation. You will have seen the papers released already under the humble address coming from No10 that he needed to be in post and in America as quickly as humanly possible.
“The very first formal communication of this to my predecessor from No10 and private office being that they wanted all this done at pace and Mandelson in post before inauguration.”
Sir Olly said there had been “very frequent communication” with No10 officials regarding Lord Mandelson’s appointment. “There was an atmosphere of constant chasing,” he said.
Asked how frequent this was, he said he could not say for certain but “certainly very frequent from private office to private office.” “Never any interest, as far as I can recall, in whether, but only an interest in when,” he added.
Asked what would have happened if Mandelson had been denied clearance, he said: “It would have been very difficult indeed.”
The former permanent secretary said he was told the peer’s situation was a “borderline case” and UK Security Vetting had suggested it was “leaning against” granting him top-level security clearance, known as developed vetting. Sir Olly refused to say whether the vetting threw up information that has not already been made public.
He said the developed vetting (DV) process was already underway when he arrived at the Foreign Office, and due diligence checks had been done by the Cabinet Office. Lord Mandelson had already been given access to the Foreign Office building and was being granted access to highly-classified briefing on a case-by-case basis.
In another headache for the PM, Sir Olly revealed that he was put under pressure to find a “head of mission” role for Matthew Doyle, the-then head of comms in No10 without telling the Foreign Secretary.
“I was under strict instruction not to discuss that with the then foreign secretary, which was uncomfortable,” he said. The former senior civil servant said he was unsure “who exactly was behind” the suggestion or “how serious it was”.
“I found it very hard to think how I would explain to the office what the credentials of Matthew were to be in an important head of mission role when I was in danger of making very senior, very experienced diplomats leave the office,” he said.
Doyle was made a peer after leaving No10 but lost the Labour whip over his ties to a convicted sex offender.