The former head of the Foreign Office will argue this week that Peter Mandelson’s “red flag” vetting rating did not constitute an automatic fail, as he looks to defend his decision to approve Mandelson as US ambassador. On Tuesday, the longstanding mandarin Olly Robbins will be questioned by MPs on the foreign affairs committee one day after the prime minister attempts to set out his own version of events.
Robbins was sacked by Keir Starmer on Thursday night after the Guardian revealed that he had approved Mandelson’s appointment, even though the former minister and EU commissioner had failed high-level security vetting, known as DV.
Robbins was not in the country at the time and is understood to have been blindsided by his rapid defenestration, which was followed by the publication of a template used by UK Security Vetting (UKSV) to show a “RAG” grading (red, amber or green) according to the vetters’ level of concern. “Where vetting officers felt there was a significant concern over the granting of vetting to an individual, they would mark the ‘high concern’ and ‘clearance denied or withdrawn’ boxes,” the document said.
An attached summary of a meeting revealed that Starmer was told last Tuesday that “the recommendation from the vetting officer had been that DV should not be granted to Peter Mandelson”. The summary adds that there is “some discretion for departments to proceed with clearance and the FCDO had exercised it in this case… contrary to the recommendation”. Allies of Robbins – who argue that he is being “spun” against – told The Observer this was the focus of his defence.
One noted that the red flag was “merely information that informs the decision”. If the flag is raised, the decision-maker has to work out whether the reasons for it are resolvable, this person said. “Can they be mitigated?’ If not, the decision is not to approve... there is nothing automatic in it, yet it’s being deliberately portrayed that [Mandelson] failed and it was overturned.”
Another source said: “He didn't overrule anything because that’s not how the process works. As the head of the department, you are the decision-maker – there is no higher authority in this.” A third source familiar with vetting confirmed that red ratings did not constitute an automatic failing, but said it was “extremely rare”, and that UKSV recommendations were generally taken as “the default”.
‘Can they red flags be mitigated? If not, the decision is not to approve… there is nothing automatic in it’
‘Can they red flags be mitigated? If not, the decision is not to approve… there is nothing automatic in it’
Ally of Olly Robbins
Sources cited actual examples – including gambling addiction and links to individuals from hostile states – in which mitigations had been put in place after concerns were raised, with the caveat that candidates with “significant personal conduct issues… just don’t get cleared”.
Robbins also intends to hit back at suggestions that he should have warned the prime minister. His allies pointed to comments made by Ciaran Martin, former director of GCHQ’s National Cyber Security Centre, who told the BBC: “Not only is there no duty to disclose the details of a vetting case, there is a duty not to disclose them.”
Robbins is expected to argue that he was under a legal obligation not to reveal the details of the vetting. “It’s a stupid law, but it is the law,” one ally said. This has been rejected by figures in No 10. “This law thing is a total red herring,” one said. “We don't accept the argument because [Cabinet Office permanent secretary] Cat Little has shown it is possible.” It was Little, alongside cabinet secretary Antonia Romeo, who alerted the prime minister to the UKSV’s recommendation.
The extent to which Morgan McSweeney will feature in this week’s hearings is unclear. The former chief of staff remains in the frame as the person who pushed hardest for Mandelson’s appointment.
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People around Starmer have stressed that as well as all ministers being in the dark, “no one in No 10 was aware that UKSV had recommended vetting until this week, and that includes Morgan”. McSweeney’s resignation statement from February said he “did not oversee the due diligence and vetting process”.
Starmer will start the week having had little time to prepare, after spending the end of last week in Paris discussing the Strait of Hormuz, and then visiting a nuclear submarine in Scotland.
However, having ordered officials to establish the facts on Tuesday, he will be armed with paperwork and the support of a team of aides when he enters the Commons for what is widely expected to be an explosive debate.
He faces political rivals looking to make hay in the week they enter the short campaign for May’s local elections, as well as Labour backbenchers angry at the fallout from the Mandelson affair, particularly over how it undercuts the party’s efforts to tackle violence against women and girls.
They also fear how Starmer will approach the Commons showdown.
One Cabinet minister said: “Monday is going to be very difficult, partly because Keir is so process-focused and lawyerly he will be tempted to focus on that side rather than putting in the wider context about why [Mandelson] was appointed in the first place… But until this came out, leadership challenges had gone down as a likelihood. I couldn't tell you if that’s still true next week or three week’s time.”
Another minister said his grip on the leadership remained on a knife-edge: “We are all hoping he's safe for this week at least. It depends on how badly it goes on Monday and Tuesday.”
Typhoid Mandy: the Mandelson casualties
The list of casualties linked to the appointment of Peter Mandelson as ambassador to the US is growing…
Fired: Karen Pierce
The first casualty was his predecessor as ambassador. Respected and liked by many – including, crucially, Trump and those around him – Pierce was collateral damage to make way for Mandelson. Some Foreign Office figures note that her ousting coincided with the departure of a further half-dozen senior female diplomats.
Resigned: Morgan McSweeney
The architect of Labour’s 2024 election victory may also have been the architect of his own demise: he was, after all, the driving force behind Mandelson’s appointment as ambassador, as Downing Street’s chief of staff. McSweeney took “full responsibility” for the choice when he resigned earlier this year – although has always kept his distance from any question of vetting.
Resigned: Tim Allan
Within 24 hours of McSweeney’s departure, his colleague Allan, director of communications at No 10, also quit, amid the ongoing row about Mandelson’s appointment. His arrival just five months earlier meant he was not in the firing line for that decision, but last week it emerged that he had dismissed a journalist’s queries about whether Mandelson had failed the vetting process last autumn.
Fired: Chris Wormald
Days after McSweeney fell on his sword, the country’s most senior civil servant was forced out of his job as cabinet secretary as Starmer grappled to keep his own position in the wake of the Mandelson scandal. Presented as by “mutual consent”, his exit duly made Wormald the shortest-serving cabinet secretary in the history of the post.
Fired: Olly Robbins
The most recent casualty of the decision to appoint Peter Mandelson. The permanent under-secretary at the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office (FCDO) was sacked by the prime minister over the phone on Thursday night after it emerged that the FCDO had proceeded with the appointment against a recommendation from the security vetting team. Robbins had been made head of the department only days before the Mandelson paperwork landed on his desk. At that time, the decision to appoint Mandelson to the job had already been announced. He lost the confidence of the prime minister, who said he was “furious” he had been kept in the dark.
Reshuffled?
During his tenure as the UK’s ambassador to the US, Peter Mandelson advised on candidate selection and ministerial reshuffles, leading many in Westminster to speculate that he may have had a hand in some of the sackings. Those who are said to have lost out as a result include Lucy Powell, Anneliese Dodds and Justin Madders.
Collapsed
The fallout from the whole saga also destroyed the lobbying firm Mandelson set up 16 years ago with Ben Wegg Prosser. Global Counsel, whose clients included Palantir and TikTok, tried to cauterise the wound by cutting ties with its founder in February, but it was too late. The firm, which employed more than 100 staffers, entered administration that month.
Photograph by Oli Scarff/AFP via Getty Images