{"id":911346,"date":"2026-04-22T15:30:21","date_gmt":"2026-04-22T15:30:21","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/911346\/"},"modified":"2026-04-22T15:30:21","modified_gmt":"2026-04-22T15:30:21","slug":"liverpool-mp-criticises-sacking-of-foreign-office-chief-as-plain-wrong","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/911346\/","title":{"rendered":"Liverpool MP criticises sacking of Foreign Office chief as &#8220;plain wrong&#8221;"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>A Liverpool MP has criticised Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer\u2019s decision to sack Sir Olly Robbins, characterising it as \u201cplain wrong\u201d.<\/p>\n<p>Dan Carden, MP for Liverpool Walton and a member of the Foreign Affairs Select Committee, made the <a href=\"https:\/\/x.com\/DanCardenMP\/status\/2046864168599404815\" rel=\"nofollow\">comments on X<\/a> a day after Sir Olly\u2019s bombshell evidence to the committee.<\/p>\n<p><img fetchpriority=\"high\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-40649 lazyload\" alt=\"\" width=\"225\" height=\"300\" src=\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/Official_portrait_of_Dan_Carden_MP-web-225x300.jpg\"  data- data-eio-rwidth=\"225\" data-eio-rheight=\"300\"\/>Dan Carden MP, Liverpool Walton. Image by Richard Townsend, available under CC licence.<\/p>\n<p>Sir Olly, the former chief civil servant at the Foreign Office, was sacked on Friday after details came to light of his role in approving the vetting for Peter Mandelson.<\/p>\n<p>However, when asked by Mr Carden why he was sacked from his role, Sir Olly said: \u201cI don\u2019t fully understand why.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Meanwhile, a Liverpool-based expert in British politics has said that Sir Keir will begin to face fractures in the Parliamentary Labour Party quite soon.<\/p>\n<p>Dr Paul Anderson, a senior lecturer in International Relations and Politics at Liverpool John Moores University, told Mersey News Live: \u201cUp until this point, Labour, despite u-turns, that the parliamentary party were perhaps trying to get back behind the Prime Minister, I think that might be unravelling.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI think the big test will come after the elections in May.\u201d<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-40656 lazyload\" alt=\"\" width=\"300\" height=\"207\" src=\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/Dr-Paul-Anderson-web-photo-final-300x207.jpg\"  data- data-eio-rwidth=\"300\" data-eio-rheight=\"207\"\/>Dr Paul Anderson, senior lecturer in Politics at LJMU. Image by Sam Levine\/MAJ 25-26.<\/p>\n<p>On the upcoming local elections being an existential threat to Sir Keir\u2019s leadership, Dr Anderson said: \u201cI think it will be a significant turning point in his premiership.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>His comments came before Leader of the Opposition Kemi Badenoch called for the Prime Minister to resign over the scandal surrounding Peter Mandelson.<\/p>\n<p>She also accused the Prime Minister of lobbying for a job for Lord Matthew Doyle, who was suspended from the Labour Party due to his friendship with a person charged with possessing indecent images.<\/p>\n<p>Ms Badenoch said: \u201cHe promised them probity. What he\u2019s given them is cronyism and an old boy\u2019s club where Matthew Doyle is being proposed as an ambassador.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>She continued: \u201cThe Prime Minister did not follow the process the Cabinet Secretary set out in November 2024. Will the Prime Minister finally take responsibility and go?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The Prime Minister remains under pressure, and the Foreign Affairs Select Committee has summoned his former chief of staff, Morgan McSweeney, to appear before them next Tuesday.<\/p>\n<p>Dame Emily Thornberry MP, chair of the committee, confirmed McSweeney\u2019s appearance in an <a href=\"https:\/\/x.com\/EmilyThornberry\/status\/2046930429521887610\" rel=\"nofollow\">X post.<\/a><\/p>\n<p>Featured image by Michael Peat, available under <a href=\"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by\/3.0\/deed.en\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">creative commons licence.<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A Liverpool MP has criticised Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer\u2019s decision to sack Sir Olly Robbins, characterising it&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":911347,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[8815],"tags":[256074,748,207077,393,4884,179,285,67166,31172,16,15],"class_list":["post-911346","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-liverpool","tag-badenoch","tag-britain","tag-dan-carden","tag-england","tag-great-britain","tag-liverpool","tag-politics","tag-scandal","tag-starmer","tag-uk","tag-united-kingdom"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/116449079244046932","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/911346","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=911346"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/911346\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/911347"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=911346"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=911346"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=911346"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}