Peter Mandelson's appointment was treated as a fait accompli, says a former Foreign Office chief. Photo / Getty Images
Sir Olly Robbins has accused Downing Street of putting the Foreign Office under “constant pressure” to clear Lord Mandelson’s vetting to become US ambassador.
The former Foreign Office chief claimed No 10 took a “dismissive approach” to the security checks, revealing that officials had even queried whether they were needed at all.
In testimony to MPs, Robbins, who was sacked last week for failing to tell Sir Keir Starmer that Mandelson had failed Developed Vetting (DV), argued that the peer’s appointment as ambassador to the US was being treated as a fait accompli by the time he arrived at the department in January last year.
His intervention will heap further pressure on the Prime Minister, who on Monday defended his handling of the scandal by telling Parliament that Robbins had taken a “deliberate decision” not to tell him of the security concerns raised.
Dame Emily Thornberry, the chairman of the foreign affairs committee, also claimed Robbins’ predecessor had been told to “just f***ing approve” the appointment.
She told MPs that the instruction had been relayed by Morgan McSweeney, then Starmer’s chief of staff, to Sir Philip Barton, who was the top civil servant at the Foreign Office when Mandelson’s appointment was announced in December 2024.
Robbins told MPs on the foreign affairs select committee that there had been an “atmosphere of constant chasing” for Mandelson’s vetting clearance before Donald Trump’s inauguration in January last year.
He said: “I think throughout January, honestly, my office, the Foreign Secretary’s office, were under constant pressure.”
Robbins said Downing Street had repeatedly asked “has this been delivered yet?”, adding: “[There was] never any interest, as far as I recall, in whether, but only an interest in when.”
He added that he was subject to a “very, very strong expectation” from No 10 that Mandelson must be in post “as quickly as humanly possible”.
Jones said that by the time he took up the post as the Foreign Office’s top civil servant, the process of Mandelson’s appointment was largely complete.
The peer had already been through “due diligence” checks by the Cabinet Office, which had flagged his foreign links and friendship with Jeffrey Epstein directly to Starmer.
No 10 had chosen to go ahead anyway, with Mandelson announced as the incoming US ambassador after being approved by the King and Donald Trump.
On top of that, Jones said that when he arrived at the Foreign Office, the peer already had a pass for the building and had been given “highly classified” briefings.
The sacked mandarin said all of those elements “resulted in a dismissive approach to DV from No 10 Downing Street for the remainder of the process”.
He added: “Nonetheless, despite this atmosphere of pressure, the department completed DV to the normal high standard.”
Robbins confirmed that Mandelson had not been red-flagged because of his friendship with Epstein, but rather because of his foreign ties.
That is believed to refer to his business links to China and Russia, which had already been highlighted in the due diligence report before the vetting took place.
Robbins said he had not seen Mandelson’s file, but was verbally briefed by officials that the peer was considered a “borderline case” for Developed Vetting.
UK Security Vetting was minded to recommend against granting clearance, he said, but Foreign Office officials told him the risks could “be managed and mitigated”.
Robbins also disputed Downing Street’s characterisation of Mandelson as having “failed” the security checks.
He said UK Security Vetting “did not fail” the peer, because it was ultimately up to civil servants to make a final decision on whether to grant clearance.
As a result, he argued that he had not “overruled their decision” but had instead taken a “risk judgment” on whether the security concerns raised could be managed.
Robbins has previously suggested mitigations were put in place around Mandelson’s links to Global Counsel, the lobbying firm he co-founded, which had several high-profile clients in China and Russia.
He also revealed that after the peer was sacked in September last year, he had considered requesting to see his vetting file.
At the time, there were reports, including in the Independent, that the security services had raised concerns about his foreign links during the vetting.
Robbins said when he asked the Cabinet Office about seeing the file, he was told that he required a “national security justification”, so it went no further.
His remarks will be seen as an attempt to shift the blame back on to Downing Street, which has effectively accused the Foreign Office of trying to cover up the failed vetting.
Downing Street denied Robbins’ claims that it had put pressure on the Foreign Office to waive through Lord Mandelson’s vetting.
The Prime Minister’s spokesman said: “I would draw a distinction between the idea of pressure and being kept informed about the process and the progress of the appointment.”
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