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Former Foreign Office permanent under-secretary Simon McDonald has publicly defended sacked civil servant Olly Robbins, telling the BBC's Today programme that Robbins was "thrown under a bus" by Starmer and that there was "no process, any fairness" in his rapid dismissal. McDonald said the scandal is the biggest crisis for the diplomatic service in decades, and suggested that No. 10 "required a scalp and wanted it quickly" after the Guardian's story broke. Robbins is said to be angry at what he considers unfair treatment and believes he was following due process when he withheld the vetting outcome from ministers. Conservative leader Kemi Badenoch also joined calls for Starmer to go, writing on X that he had "betrayed our national security."
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Mandelson has since resigned from the ambassadorial post, with his departure linked to scrutiny over his connections to Jeffrey Epstein, and he is reported to be under investigation over allegations that he transmitted sensitive financial information to the convicted sex offender. The RFI report underscores that the core political question now dogging Starmer is how much he knew about Mandelson's ties to Epstein before the appointment was made, a question Downing Street continues to deflect by insisting neither Starmer nor Lammy was informed of the security services' adverse recommendation.
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Starmer told reporters Friday he was "absolutely furious" at having been kept in the dark, calling the failure to inform him "staggering" and "unforgivable," and pledged to lay out "all the relevant facts in true transparency" before Parliament on Monday. Opposition politicians expressed disbelief at his claim he had only learned of the overruled vetting recommendation this week, while Downing Street maintained that Foreign Secretary David Lammy was also not informed of the security services' advice against Mandelson's appointment.
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Chief Secretary to the Treasury Darren Jones described the vetting controversy as a "failing of the state" and confirmed he had suspended the Foreign Office's authority to overrule security vetting recommendations the previous night, pending an urgent review of past decisions made under those powers. Jones also said the findings would be folded into a broader independent review of the vetting process that had already been planned. Starmer sacked Olly Robbins, the most senior civil servant at the Foreign Office, after Robbins lost the prime minister's confidence over the failure to inform him of the overruled recommendation. Liberal Democrat leader Ed Davey called on the House of Commons privileges committee to investigate whether Starmer misled parliament over the appointment, saying his party would push for a debate on the matter on Monday, and drawing a parallel with Boris Johnson's resignation over misleading parliament.
British Prime Minister Keir Starmer is facing intensifying political pressure after it emerged that his former ambassador to Washington, Peter Mandelson, failed an initial security screening before being appointed to the role — and that Foreign Office officials overrode the recommendation without informing Starmer or other ministers.
The Guardian newspaper reported on Thursday that Mandelson, 72, was denied security clearance in late January 2025 following a highly confidential background check by UK Security Vetting, the government body responsible for screening individuals who require access to sensitive information. His known connections to the late American financier and convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein are believed to have been a significant factor. However, Starmer had already publicly announced Mandelson's appointment as Britain's top diplomat in the United States. Faced with what the newspaper described as a "dilemma", Foreign Office officials invoked a rarely used authority to override the vetting agency's recommendation, granting Mandelson what is known as "developed vetting" clearance. A government spokesperson confirmed the account but stressed that neither Starmer nor Foreign Secretary David Lammy had been aware of this override until earlier this week.
The revelation compounds months of controversy surrounding Mandelson's appointment and subsequent dismissal. Starmer sacked him last September, less than a year into the posting, after documents released by a United States Congressional committee revealed deeper details of his ties to Epstein. Police subsequently opened a misconduct in office investigation into Mandelson, who was arrested and bailed in February, over allegations that he leaked sensitive government documents to Epstein — including during the 2008 financial crisis — while serving as a minister. The scandal had already forced the resignation of two senior government officials before Thursday's new disclosures.
The political fallout was swift and broad. Conservative Party leader Kemi Badenoch accused Starmer of betraying national security and called on him to step down, while Liberal Democrat leader Sir Ed Davey said the prime minister had made a "catastrophic error of judgment" and warned that if he had misled Parliament, "he must go". The Green Party and Reform UK also joined calls for Starmer's resignation. The prime minister had previously told Parliament that Mandelson had cleared vetting — a statement that opposition leaders now say was misleading.
The government insists the vetting recommendation was not legally binding and that Starmer acted in good faith throughout. Starmer has apologised for the appointment overall, accusing Mandelson of a "litany of deceit" about the extent of his Epstein connections, and has pledged further document releases. With The Guardian indicating that additional files are expected to come to light, the pressure on Downing Street shows little sign of easing.
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