Starmer-Mandelson latest: Labour MPs warn of ‘toxic culture’ in No 10 and turn on PM over vetting scandal

Pat McFadden has insisted that yesterday was the first he had heard of Matthew Doyle being put forward for an ambassadorship, telling Sky News he does not believe Lord Doyle “had the experience to become an ambassador”.

It came after Sir Olly Robbins claimed that Downing Street secretly pushed for Lord Doyle to be given a top diplomatic job in another embarrassing revelation for the Labour government.

“I don’t know what conversations took place between No 10 and the Foreign Office about that, but it didn’t come to anything. I don’t think Matthew had the experience to become an ambassador.”

He added: “I don’t think he would have been right for such a post. I think it’s right that no appointment was made.”

John Swinney has contrasted his “reliable, experienced” leadership in Scotland with the “absolute chaos” in Westminster, where he said the Prime Minister is “fighting to save his own career”.

With the Conservatives and the SNP calling for a vote of confidence in Sir Keir Starmer over his decision to appoint Lord Peter Mandelson as the UK’s ambassador to the US, the Scottish First Minister said “the whole Westminster Government has descended into absolute chaos”.

He described Sir Keir as a “weak and desperate Labour Prime Minister fighting to save his own career rather than fighting for people in Scotland”.

He was speaking ahead of campaigning in Edinburgh for the Holyrood elections in just over two weeks, with the SNP leader bidding to be returned as Scotland’s first minister.

Mr Swinney said: “At a time when people are facing sky-high food costs, energy bills and petrol prices, they need a government that is focused on taking action to support them.

“Instead, they have a Westminster establishment that is engulfed in scandal and asleep at the wheel.”

Britain’s rulers and civil servants have shown themselves to be incompetent custodians of national security at a time when the UK is facing a live hybrid war from Russia, economic and security contagion from the Middle East, and subtle invasion by Chinese intelligence and business interests.

Add that to Keir Starmer’s seemingly complete lack of curiosity about whether his appointment to the most sensitive post in British diplomacy could be trusted, and it sends a signal that Britain just doesn’t know what it is up against.

Read the full analysis from our world affairs editor Sam Kiley here:

A trade union boss has accused Sir Keir Starmer of sending a “real chill throughout the civil service” over his decision to sack the top mandarin of the Foreign Office.

Dave Penman, general secretary of the FDA trade union, told BBC Newsnight: “I think the prime minister is losing the ability to work with the civil service.”

“Who in the civil service would now think they would be immune from when it is politically expedient to be dismissed?” he asked.

Sir Olly Robbins was fired from his role as permanent under secretary over after it emerged he had not informed the prime minister that Lord Peter Mandelson had failed vetting.

“That’s not a place any government wants to be because it doesn’t deliver for the people of the country,” he said.

Former Cabinet Office minister Pat McFadden said he had not pushed for Lord Peter Mandelson to be given the ambassador to the US job without vetting.

Sir Olly Robbins told MPs that the Foreign Office resisted suggestions from the Cabinet Office that Lord Mandelson might not need vetting because he was already a peer and a privy counsellor.

Mr McFadden, now the Work and Pensions Secretary, told Times Radio: “I have no knowledge that the Cabinet Office did suggest that.

“I was a senior minister in the Cabinet Office at the time, I certainly never suggested that.

“That’s something that Olly Robbins said yesterday. It’s very clear in the emails to Peter Mandelson that vetting was part of the process and that his appointment was subject to that vetting process being completed.”

Sir Olly Robbins gave evidence to MPs on the Commons Foreign Affairs Select Committee on Tuesday after being sacked by Downing Street last week over the decision to grant Lord Mandelson security clearance as US ambassador despite red flags in his vetting.

The saga has become the latest chapter in a scandal which has overshadowed Sir Keir Starmer’s premiership and prompted concerns about his leadership and judgement.

You can read about all the key moments below:

Cabinet minister Pat McFadden repeatedly declined to say he believed Sir Keir Starmer’s sacking of top Foreign Office official Sir Olly Robbins was fair.

Asked on Times Radio if the sacking felt fair, Mr McFadden said he thought “very highly” of Sir Olly but “I think if the Prime Minister’s made the judgment that he’s not got confidence in the head of the Foreign Office, the head of the foreign service, then it’s difficult to continue”.

Asked again if it was fair, Mr McFadden said: “Look, it’s the Prime Minister’s judgment.”

Asked the same question again, Mr McFadden said: “As a Cabinet member, I support the Prime Minister’s decisions.

“He took the decision he couldn’t continue with Olly Robbins in post because he viewed the material that had been withheld from him, not shared with him, as really important in making this decision.”

Dame Emily Thornberry suggested she could bring Sir Keir’s former chief of staff, Morgan McSweeney, before the Foreign Affairs Committee.

The senior Labour MP, who chairs the committee, was asked by LBC if she would ask the long-time Mandelson ally to appear and responded: “I am going to invite some other witnesses. It would probably be best if they heard that first from me rather than from you.”

The prime minister will be in for a third showdown in as many days as he prepares to face MPs in the Commons for Prime Minister’s Questions on Wednesday.

He has been forced to answer questions over his appointment of Lord Peter Mandelson to the role of US ambassador on both Monday and Tuesday after Conservative party leader Kemi Badenoch’s application for an emergency debate in the matter was granted.

Ms Badenoch is unlikely to stray away from twisting the knife during her weekly questions to the prime minister on Wednesday.