Sacked Foreign Office chief Olly Robbins to face MPs’ questions over Mandelson vetting – UK politics live | Politics

Donald Trump seems to be conducting his relationship with Keir Starmer chiefly by online trolling at the moment. He was at it again overnight, with a post on his Truth Social network saying that, when Starmer appointed Peter Mandelson as ambassador to the US, it was a “really bad pick”.

Good morning. At 9am Olly Robbins will give evidence to the Commons foreign affairs committee about the appointment of Peter Mandelson as ambassador to the US. Until last week Robbins was permanent secretary at the Foreign Office and his predecessor but one in that office, Simon McDonald, was the man who terminated Boris Johnson’s career with a revelation showing that Johnson had lied about his knowledge of a sleaze allegation about a minister. Robbins is not expected to produce a bombshell on that scale, but his evidence will be moment of jeodpardy for Keir Starmer nevertheless.

Robbins was sacked because he had not told Starmer that Mandelson failed his security vetting interview after Starmer had announced he was getting the ambassador’s job. If Robbins were to prove that Starmer were told, that would be career ending for the PM. But no one is expecting that.

Instead, the hearing will illustrate the dispute between the PM and the former head of the Foreign Office over whether Robbins should have told Downing Street. Starmer says he should; Robbins is expected to say that that he was meant to keep the process confidential because all that ultimately mattered was the final decision – which is that Mandelson did get vetting approval, because Robbins used his judgment as the decision-maker to ignore the recommendation from officials and grant vetting approval.

The most interesting question is, why? And here it will get difficult for Starmer, because Robbins is likely to argue that he felt under pressure to grant vetting approval because Starmer had already said he wanted Mandelson to get the job, despite knowing full well about the multiple factors that made his appointment problematic.

We know this because Robbins suggested as much when he last gave evidence to the committee about this appointment, in November last year. Robbins told the committee:

Back before Lord Mandelson was announced as the appointee, there was a process … within the Cabinet Office to make sure that the prime minister was aware of Lord Mandelson and the issues around his appointment. There was then a process of clearing his conflicts of interest, which the employing department [the Foreign Office] oversaw, which we have talked about. In parallel with that process, we also went through the standard UK national security vetting process for DV [developed vetting].

Mandleson failed the DV interview. But Robbins was making the point that, by then, Mandelson had already been approved by the Cabinet Office’s due diligence process (a separate vetting exercise). Robbins also told the committee:

By the time we are describing [when DV was carried out], it was clear that the prime minister wanted to make this appointment himself.

In the Times, Steven Swinford and Oliver Wright highlight this in their story on today’s hearing, saying Stamer “will be accused of pressuring the Foreign Office into approving the appointment of Lord Mandelson despite being aware of his friendship with the paedophile Jeffrey Epstein and his business links to Russia and China”.

And here is the our analysis, by Kiran Stacey, Henry Dyer and Paul Lewis, of all the issues likely to come up at the hearing.

Here is the agenda for the day.

9am: Olly Robbins, the former permanent secretary at the Foreign Office, gives evidence to the Commons foreign affairs committee.

9.30am: Keir Starmer chairs cabinet, including a political cabinet session.

9.30am: The Good Growth Foundation holds a day-long National Growth Debate, with speeches from Ed Miliband, the energy secretary, Rachel Reeves, the chancellor, and Darren Jones, the chief secretary to the PM.

10am: Executives from TikTok, Meta, Roblox, and academics give evidence to the Commons education committee on screen time and social media.

11.30am: Yvette Cooper, the foreign secretary, takes questions in the Commons.

Noon: Downing Street holds a lobby briefing.

After 12.30pm: Rachel Reeves, the chancellor, makes a statement to MPs.

After 1.30pm: MPs begin an emergency debate tabed by the Tories on the appointment of Peter Mandelson as ambassador to the US.

2.20pm: John Swinney, the Scottish first minister, speaks at the STUC conference.

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