{"id":43630,"date":"2026-04-25T21:43:10","date_gmt":"2026-04-25T21:43:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/people\/43630\/"},"modified":"2026-04-25T21:43:10","modified_gmt":"2026-04-25T21:43:10","slug":"olly-robbins-only-faced-everyday-pressure-to-clear-mandelson-starmer-says","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/people\/43630\/","title":{"rendered":"Olly Robbins only faced \u2018everyday pressure\u2019 to clear Mandelson, Starmer says"},"content":{"rendered":"

The former Foreign Office chief only faced the \u201ceveryday pressure of Government\u201d during the vetting process <\/a>for Lord Peter Mandelson<\/a>, Sir Keir Starmer has said standing by his decision to sack him. <\/a><\/p>\n

The prime minister insisted that he would not have made Lord Mandelson <\/a>his diplomat to Washington had Sir Olly Robbins<\/a> told him the outcome of the so-called developed vetting process.<\/p>\n

Earlier this week, Sir Olly said there was an \u201catmosphere of pressure\u201d and \u201cconstant chasing\u201d from Downing Street while the checks were taking place.<\/p>\n

But during Prime Minister\u2019s Questions this week, Sir Keir said that \u201cno pressure existed whatsoever in relation to this case\u201d.<\/p>\n

Speaking to The Sunday Times, he made a distinction between \u201cdifferent types of pressure\u201d.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere\u2019s pressure \u2013 \u2018Can we get this done quickly?\u2019 \u2013 which is not an unusual pressure. That is the everyday pressure of Government,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

He said a pressure \u201cessentially, to disregard the security vetting element and give clearance\u201d would be something different, and that Sir Olly \u201cwas really clear in his mind that wasn\u2019t pressure that was put on him\u201d.<\/p>\n

\"Former<\/p>\n

Former Foreign Office chief Sir Olly Robbins was appearing before a Westminster committee on Tuesday (House of Commons\/UK Parliament\/PA) (PA Wire)<\/p>\n

Lord Mandelson was sacked months after his appointment over his links to Jeffrey Epstein and is now facing a police inquiry over claims he leaked sensitive government documents to the paedophile financier when he was business secretary.<\/p>\n

The prime minister has told MPs that he and his ministers only found out that UK Security Vetting had advised Lord Mandelson should be denied clearance last Tuesday evening.<\/p>\n

But Sir Keir faces questions over how he could have failed to have known about the issue when his communications chief was told directly and the story became headline news.<\/p>\n

MPs on the Foreign Affairs Committee said UK Security Vetting (UKSV), the agency responsible for checks on candidates for sensitive posts, had ticked two red boxes on Lord Mandelson\u2019s form \u2013 meaning they had \u201chigh concern\u201d and recommended \u201cclearance denied or withdrawn\u201d.<\/p>\n

Asked if he regretted firing Sir Olly so quickly after information came to light about the vetting, Sir Keir said: \u201cWhen there\u2019s a double red flag not to give clearance and (showing) high concern, then I\u2019m sorry. I\u2019m sorry.<\/p>\n

\u201cBut I do not accept the argument that that is something which should not be told to the prime minister.\u201d<\/p>\n

He said it was a \u201cfundamental matter\u201d to have told him about the vetting, not just at the time of the appointment, but also later on.<\/p>\n

\u201cI was going out saying that (Mandelson\u2019s) clearance has been given. I\u2019m afraid not bringing that to my attention, it\u2019s not a small matter. It\u2019s a fundamental matter.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Sir<\/p>\n

Sir Keir Starmer has insisted he would not have gone ahead with having Lord Peter Mandelson as his top diplomat to Washington had he known about the vetting (Carl Court\/PA) (PA Wire)<\/p>\n

However, Sir Keir rejected a suggestion he could have been more curious about the clearance.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen I\u2019m told there\u2019s security clearance<\/a>, should I go back and quiz officials and say: \u2018Are you telling me the truth?\u2019,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Questions over the vetting scandal will carry on into next week when Sir Keir\u2019s former chief of staff Morgan McSweeney is due to appear before committee of MPs.<\/p>\n

Foreign Office official Ian Collard, who Sir Olly said briefed him on the vetting findings that deemed Lord Mandelson a borderline case and leaned towards recommending that clearance be denied, will give written evidence.<\/p>\n

He was asked to appear in person before the committee, but its chair Dame Emily Thornberry said on Saturday that the Foreign Secretary had declined this.<\/p>\n

She has set out questions for Mr Collard to answer ahead of Tuesday\u2019s session, including whether he felt under pressure to deliver Lord Mandelson\u2019s clearance and to detail his recollection of the meeting he had with Sir Olly about the vetting.<\/p>\n

Sir Keir has faced calls to resign amid the fallout from the Lord Peter Mandelson vetting scandal and Cabinet divisions are said to have emerged over his handling of the process, including his decision to sack Sir Olly.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The former Foreign Office chief only faced the \u201ceveryday pressure of Government\u201d during the vetting process for Lord…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":43631,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[126],"tags":[6103,264,20949,6102,27859,20601,4766,24704],"class_list":{"0":"post-43630","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-keir-starmer","8":"tag-foreign-office","9":"tag-keir-starmer","10":"tag-olly-robbins","11":"tag-peter-mandelson","12":"tag-security-clearance","13":"tag-security-vetting","14":"tag-sir-keir","15":"tag-vetting-process"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@people\/116467532026196217","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/people\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/43630","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/people\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/people\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/people\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/people\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=43630"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/people\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/43630\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/people\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/43631"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/people\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=43630"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/people\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=43630"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/people\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=43630"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}