Sir Olly Robbins has submitted a legal challenge over his dismissal as the top civil servant at the Foreign Office, the FDA union has said
Sir Olly Robbins has submitted a legal challenge over his dismissal as the top civil servant at the Foreign Office, the FDA union has said.
Keir Starmer sacked Sir Olly as the Foreign Office’s chief in April over the Peter Mandelson vetting scandal.
It came after the revelation that Lord Mandelson was made US ambassador despite failing his security vetting. Sir Olly was the top civil servant at the Foreign Office when the decision was made to overrule advice from UK Security Vetting (UKSV) so he could take the plum job.
But Sir Olly later accused No10 of being “dismissive” of the need to vet Lord Mandelson. He told a committee of MPs that it was “not a given” that the so-called Prince of Darkness would be vetted at all before being sent to Washington.
Sir Olly’s submission to the Court claims that the Prime Minister has no statutory authority to dismiss the Head of the Diplomatic Service and that, not only was there no fair procedure involved in his dismissal, there was no process at all.
Following the request for Judicial Review of his dismissal, Sir Olly said: “I bring this action reluctantly. It would have been unnecessary if the Prime Minister had simply apologised for his mistake and made amends for the distress and cost it has caused me and my family.
“Instead, I now have to ask the Courts to determine that the Prime Minister’s decisions were unlawful, unreasonable and to quash them.”
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