Starmer-Mandelson latest: PM in peril and top civil servant sacked over Labour peer’s vetting scandal

Nigel Farage said Olly Robbins, the Foreign Office’s top civil servant, was the “sacrificial lamb in an attempt to try and save the Prime Minister”.

He told LBC: “None of this adds up, the idea they weren’t told about the vetting.

“Remember, in the House of Commons, Starmer actually said that the vetting had told him about the ongoing relationship with Jeffrey Epstein, then outside of the House, in Hastings, he gave a speech in which he said that Mandelson had cleared security vetting.

“They are all over the place on this, it is totally unbelievable and Robbins, he’s the sacrificial lamb in an attempt to try and save the Prime Minister, and it just isn’t good enough.”

Keir Starmer was right to say Peter Mandelson had cleared security vetting procedures when he had been asked previously, Darren Jones has said.

“The Prime Minister was right… because the security and vetting process had been conducted and the Foreign Office granted what’s called developed vetting status to allow for Peter Mandelson’s appointment, so he had been through the process and he had been cleared by the Foreign Office to start the role, so the prime minister was right about that,” he told BBC.

“What the prime minister was not told until Tuesday evening this week was that the Foreign Office’s decision to give that developed vetting status, and to appoint Peter Mandelson as ambassador, was against the recommendations of security and vetting officials.”

The Independent’s political journalist Athena Stavrou reports:

Sir Keir Starmer is “furious” after discovering the Foreign Office overruled security advice on Lord Peter Mandelson over his appointment as US ambassador.

Chief secretary to the prime minister Darren Jones denied the prime minister misled parliament over the former Labour peer’s security clearance, but said he was “furious with the state” over the process.

Mr Jones said Sir Keir discovered the Foreign Office had ignored the security advice recommending Lord Mandelson should not be appointed to the role in Washington.

“It is utterly unacceptable, not just in the individual case of Peter Mandelson and respect of the prime minister’s fury at the Foreign Office for not having taught him this information, but the very fact that their processes were in place that allow for that to happen in the first place,” he told Sky News.

“That’s why in my role in the Cabinet Office, immediately last night, I suspended the rights for these organisations to make these judgments.

“I’ve asked for an urgent review about what decisions these organisations have taken in the past to overrule the recommendations from UK security vetting, and I was due to announce a broader, independent review of the vetting process anyway. And this will now be part of that.”

Keir Starmer was “right” to tell parliament that due process had been followed throughout Lord Peter Mandelson’s appointment as ambassador, “because it had”, Darren Jones said.

The chief secretary told BBC: “The prime minister was right when he told the House that due process had been followed, because it had, but the fact that that process did not require officials to tell the Foreign Secretary or the prime minster that they ignored the advice of security and vetting officials is totally unacceptable.”

Peter Mandelson would have been able to see top secret documents during his time as UK ambassador to the US, the chief secretary to the prime minister has admitted.

Darren Jones told Sky News: “The Foreign Office granted developing vetting status to appoint him as ambassador. That meant that he would be allowed, as a point of principle, to see the documents you would need to see as ambassador.”

He said he could not confirm in an “itemised way” which “individual documents did he see or not see”.

The Independent’s political journalist Athena Stavrou reports:

Sir Keir Starmer has not considered resigning and will not step down from his position, a government minister has insisted.

Chief secretary to the prime minister Darren Jones said that his Labour colleagues are not reconsidering Sir Keir as their leader – despite yet more facts coming to light about Lord Peter Mandelson’s ill-considered appointment as US ambassador.

Asked whether the prime minister will resign or if he had considered his resignation, Mr Jones told the BBC: “No.”

“The Foreign Office was allowed to overrule the recommendation from UK security vetting to not appoint Peter Mandelson to the role of ambassador to the United States,” he added.

“When the Foreign Office overruled that recommendation, it granted what’s called developed vetting status, which allowed for Peter Manderson to be appointed.”

It is “beyond unacceptable” that the Foreign Office was able to overrule a security vetting process to clear Lord Peter Mandelson to become UK ambassador to the US and rules have been changed to prevent it happening, Darren Jones said.

The Chief Secretary to the prime minister said Keir Starmer was “furious” at the situation but denied the premier had misled parliament over the Mandelson scandal.

The Foreign Office’s top civil servant Sir Olly Robbins was effectively sacked after the revelation that officials took the rare step of overruling the recommendation from UK Security Vetting.

Mr Jones told LBC Radio: “Given the nature of the problem here, not just in terms of the appointment, but the position that it has put the Prime Minister and Cabinet ministers in as a consequence of the decision to overrule the recommendation of UK Security Vetting, and the fact that the system even allowed for that to happen in the first place, it’s of a scale of a problem that we’ve not experienced in government before.

“It is beyond unacceptable.”

Mr Jones said he had suspended the ability of the Foreign Office and a “small number” of other organisations to overrule recommendations by UK Security Vetting.

The prime minister is “furious with the state” because the Foreign Office was able to overrule the vetting process fo Peter Mandelson, his chief secretary said.

Speaking to Sky News, Darren Jones said Keir Starmer had ordered an urgent review after discovering that the Foreign Office and other Government departments ignored security advice when appointing people to sensitive roles.

“It is utterly unacceptable, not just in the individual case of Peter Mandelson and respect of the Prime Minister’s fury at the Foreign Office for not having taught him this information, but the very fact that their processes were in place that allow for that to happen in the first place.

“That’s why in my role in the Cabinet Office, immediately last night, I suspended the rights for these organisations to make these judgments.

“I’ve asked for an urgent review about what decisions these organisations have taken in the past to overrule the recommendations from UK security vetting, and I was due to announce a broader, independent review of the vetting process anyway. And this will now be part of that.”