It is “inconceivable” that Sir Keir Starmer and David Lammy were not told about Peter Mandelson failing the security vetting process for the role of US ambassador, a former foreign secretary has claimed, amid growing accusations that the prime minister scapegoated the head of the Foreign Office in order to save himself.
Describing his own recent experience, Sir James Cleverly, who was foreign secretary from 2022 to 2023, said: “I cannot envisage a universe where someone senior in the Foreign Office wouldn’t have sat down with the foreign secretary and said something to warn about this.”
It comes as former civil servants claim that the sacked permanent secretary to the Foreign Office, Sir Olly Robbins, was “thrown under a bus”.
Sir Keir has claimed he only discovered last week that Lord Mandelson had failed vetting, despite The Independent telling Downing Street and running a story on the revelation in September last year.
The prime minister said it was “staggering” and “unforgiveable” that he had not been told earlier, adding that he was “furious”. He claimed that Downing Street and all his ministers had been kept in the dark.
Sir Olly is widely expected to mount a staunch defence of his decision to approve Lord Mandelson’s appointment at a hearing of the Foreign Affairs Select Committee on Tuesday – which has been described as “judgement day” for Sir Keir – with former colleagues expecting the former civil servant to emphasise that the appointment was a ministerial decision pushed through by Downing Street.
As outrage grows at the scandal around Lord Mandelson’s appointment, and the prime minister’s claims that he wasn’t aware of the problems surrounding it, fresh doubts are being cast on Sir Keir’s version of events.
Questions have been raised about his claim, made in the Commons in February, that Downing Street was not aware that Lord Mandelson had failed security vetting.
Simon McDonald, a former permanent secretary in the Foreign Office, told Radio 4’s Today programme that Sir Olly had been “thrown under a bus”, and described him as a “scalp” who had been sacked in an effort to save the prime minister.
“I think this is the biggest crisis in the diplomatic service since I joined it in 1982,” said Lord McDonald.
Speaking on The Independent’s political podcast In the Room, former deputy cabinet secretary Helen MacNamara criticised the prime minister for axing Sir Olly, calling the decision “reactive” and echoing the metaphor about throwing him under a bus.
Other senior former colleagues of Sir Olly have suggested that what he is accused of is “completely out of character”.
With recent experience of making highly sensitive diplomatic appointments as foreign secretary, Sir James said it was “just not credible” that neither Sir Keir nor the then foreign secretary Mr Lammy – now deputy prime minister – did not know.
He said: “It is just inconceivable that Olly Robbins would have sat on this information knowing that it would eventually blow up.
“We are being asked to believe that Olly Robbins was sitting there thinking, ‘I actually know Mandelson didn’t get through vetting… I probably should tell the prime minister that before he embarrasses himself further.’”
He went on: “That is just not credible – the idea that absolutely nobody read The Independent’s piece in September; that seems at odds with what Olly Robbins has already told us.
“The only thing I can think is that Olly doesn’t have anything in writing to show he told anyone.”
Pointing to a letter sent by Sir Olly in July last year to shadow Tory minister Richard Holden, in which he stated that Lord Mandelson “was directly appointed by ministers”, Sir James suggested that the sacked senior mandarin “has left a trail of crumbs back to who was really responsible”.
He said that normally, diplomatic roles are given to career diplomats who have already been vetted, but with political appointments, “the foreign secretary is told firmly that is on him, and is warned of the risks”.
Sir James said: “I had this with two political appointments I tried to make which were much more minor than the ambassador to the United States. They make it very, very clear that you, personally, are importing a whole load of risk.”
He added: “This is why I think David Lammy may have even more problems than Keir Starmer.”
On the matter of any problems that might arise, Sir James said: “Of course I would relay that to the prime minister, especially in a case like this, where the appointment was being driven by Downing Street.”
It is known from papers already released that Sir Philip Barton expressed concerns about the appointment before he quit early as permanent secretary at the Foreign Office in February 2025.
Other former top cabinet ministers and civil servants have also privately agreed with Sir James’s assessment, noting that such briefings to the prime minister and other senior cabinet ministers take place in STRAP rooms (secure and secret).
One former senior civil servant also pointed to a post on X by Dominic Cummings, in which Mr Cummings attacked claims that the prime minister hadn’t been briefed.
Mr Cummings, who served as Boris Johnson’s chief of staff, wrote: “The PM is often told by officials details from vetting, leak inquiries, investigations by intel agencies etc. This is because the PM in our constitution is often the only constitutional authority deemed able to make a political judgement about things including risk assessments of appointments.”
The former civil servant described the post as “completely accurate”.
Sir James’s doubts coincide with revelations that others in Whitehall – including new cabinet secretary Dame Antonia Romeo, the permanent secretary to the Cabinet Office, Cat Little, and government lawyers – were all aware of the problem as of March this year.
A source close to the deputy prime minister noted: “It’s a bit of an odd attack from Cleverly, given all sides in this have made it clear that ministers weren’t told.”
The Independent has approached Downing Street and Mr Lammy’s office for comment.
