Starmer-Mandelson latest: Trump questions PM’s judgement as Olly Robbins set to hit back over vetting scandal – UK Times

Sir Olly Robbins is due to answer questions in Parliament today in a testimony that could prove extremely damaging to Sir Keir Starmer’s defence and leadership.

The civil servant, who was the most senior official in the Foreign Office, was sacked last week after it emerged the department overuled a UK Security Vetting (UKSV) recommendation to grant Peter Mandelson clearance to be US ambassador.

Downing Street have blamed Sir Olly for failing to tell ministers or anyone in No 10 about the vetting failures.

But his allies have defended him, saying he has been “thrown under the bus” and felt pressured to clear the political appointment and bound by law to not share the UKSV recommendation with ministers.

Here are some questions the sacked civil servant is expected to be asked:

• Why did officials recommend Mandelson fail his vetting?
• Why did he not tell No 10 at any point?
• Did anyone explicitly tell Robbins to override the vetting?
• Did he seek legal advice on whether to share the vetting outcome?
• Is it normal for vetting to be done after appointment announced?

This has been described by a number of civil servants and senior politicians as the “smoking gun” in the entire scandal, because it is at odds with the prime minister’s own assessment.

Read the full article here from our political editor David Maddox:

Speaking to the BBC, Ed Miliband repeated claims he made earlier that he had in fact “warned” government ministers about his concerns ahead of Peter Mandelson’s appointment.

The energy secretary said he “didn’t want Peter Mandelson in my orbit” when he became Labour leader in 2010, adding those in the party “knew my view” on the former Labour Peer.

Asked if he warned the prime minister directly, he said: “I didn’t have a conversation with him directly. I talked to others in government about it.

“I had long history with Peter Mandelson. In 2010 when I became Labour leader I said I didn’t want Peter Mandelson in my orbit for sort of a range of reasons so maybe I wasn’t the person that people necessarily ask.

“I think people knew my view on Peter Mandelson.”

The chairwoman of the International Development Committee said she is worried “trust might have been broken” between ministers and civil servants following the scandal surrounding Lord Peter Mandelson’s appointment as US ambassador.

Labour MP Sarah Champion told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme she believes Sir Keir Starmer did not know about Lord Mandelson’s failure to pass security vetting checks before he found out last week.

She also said she believes sacked senior civil servant Sir Olly Robbins, who has been blamed over keeping the Prime Minister in the dark, felt he had to obey procedure.

Ms Champion told the programme: “To be quite honest, I would much rather all of this have been done behind closed doors in a quick inquiry.

“I don’t like the fact that a very senior civil servant has basically taken the brunt for this. This is an HR and a procedural issue that I really think should have been done quietly, not in the public domain.

“I would say absolutely publish the results, but with any sort of HR personnel issue, this isn’t the normal procedure.

“From my point of view, the two things that I’m most concerned about are the security risks that Lord Mandelson may or may not have put us under and our reputation accordingly, but also it’s about our relationship with the civil servants going forward.

“Ministers are incredibly dependent on them and I’m worried that that level of trust might have been broken.”

She added that a leadership challenge is “absolutely the last thing that we want right now”.

Ed Miliband has insisted Sir Keir Starmer should resist calls to resign over the Peter Mandelson scandal.

The energy secretary admitted the prime minister made a mistake in appointing the former Labour peer as US ambassador, but defended his position as leader.

“You’re asking me should Keir Starmer resign over the appointment of Lord Mandelson, and I’m saying to you, no, I don’t think he should.”

He added: “If every time a prime minister made a mistake they resigned, we would shuttle through prime ministers like nobody’s business.”

With the best will in the world, it cannot be ideal that a prime minister has to go to the House of Commons and plead, in effect, that he has not lied to MPs for the not-entirely satisfactory reason that he didn’t know what was going on in his own government.

Early in his statement, which was being listened to in stunned silence, when Sir Keir Starmer declared that the events he carefully chronicled were “incredible”, laughter broke out. Maybe that was because, in the old saying, if you didn’t laugh, you’d cry.

Without using the term, Sir Keir made his case that he was the victim of a “cover-up”, orchestrated by officials in the Foreign Office, and in particular the former head of the diplomatic service, Sir Olly Robbins. Yet Sir Olly may say he was trying to be helpful to ministers and was sticking to the law as he understood it. Soon, he too will have his say.

Read the full editorial here:

Ed Miliband has claimed he spoke to David Lammy about his concerns about Peter Mandelson ahead of his appointment as US ambassador.

The energy minister told Sky News he “steered clear” of Mandelson when he was Labour leader, and that he feared at the time that the decision to hand him the job in Washington would “blow up”.

Asked if he told anyone about these concerns, he said: “I had a conversation with David Lammy about it before the appointment.”

Mr Lammy was foreign secretary at the time of Mandelson’s appointment as US ambassador.

Asked what he said, Mr Miliband added: “I think he was worried about it too.”

Ed Miliband is speaking to broadcasters this morning as he answers questions on behalf of the government on what is expected to be a difficult day for Sir Keir Starmer.

The energy secretary reiterated that Peter Mandelson “should never have been appointed” to be US ambassador.

“This has been a very damaging episode for the government,” he told Sky News.

“I’m sure Keir feels that himself and lessons need to be learned about who gets appointed…and indeed about the process of vetting.

“Keir Starmer has taken responsibility for this error of judgment in appointing Peter Mandelson, and he’s been right to do that look on the ins and outs.”