Fired Foreign Office Official Says Starmer’s Office Had ‘Dismissive Attitude’ Toward Mandelson Security Check

The former head of the U.K. Foreign Office — who was fired over the decision to approve Peter Mandelson as British ambassador to Washington — says he felt pressure to approve the appointment but acknowledges that he didn’t inform Prime Minister Keir Starmer about security concerns surrounding the longtime politician.Olly Robbins told the House of Commons Foreign Affairs Select Committee during hours of questioning on Tuesday that he felt there was a “dismissive attitude to his vetting clearance” when it came to Mr. Mandelson because there was a rush to get him in the job and off to Washington.Mr. Robbins declined to name anyone in the prime minister’s office who applied pressure to push through the approval. “I didn’t come here to scapegoat other civil servants,” Mr. Robbins told the committee.Conservative leader Kemi Badenoch — who has said Mr. Starmer is no longer fit to govern — called Mr. Robbins’s testimony “devastating.” “Keir Starmer has misled the House,” Ms. Badennoch said in an X post.Mr. Starmer, amid growing calls to resign, told Parliament on Monday that it was his decision to appoint Mr. Mandelson to be ambassador to Washington but blamed other people for not providing all of the relevant information involving the security review.Mr. Starmer’s two-hour grilling included lawmakers laughing and jeering at his responses about the scandal. Two ministers were forced out of Monday’s session after declining to withdraw prohibited comments they had made about the prime minister.Your Party’s Zarah Sultan was removed after calling Mr. Starmer a “bare-faced liar.” Reform UK’s Lee Anderson was removed after saying the prime minister had “been lying” during the scandal.Mr. Mandelson was widely known to have had a relationship with disgraced financier Jeffrey Epstein and business ties to the Kremlin and Beijing, but information that Mr. Mandelson had not passed a security review was first made public last week. Mr. Starmer fired Mr. Robbins, saying he had not known about the failed security review and would have pulled Mr. Mandelson’s appointment if he had that information.The United States Department of Justice, in January, released a new cache of emails that showed Mr. Mandelson continued to maintain contact with Epstein after the disgraced financier’s 2008 conviction on child sex offenses.Mr. Mandelson resigned from the House of Lords in disgrace in February as Scotland Yard announced that it was opening an investigation into him. Mr. Mandelson, in his resignation letter to the Labour Party, said he was “sorry for ever having known” Epstein and apologized “to the women and girls whose voices should have been heard long before now.”The Metropolitan Police, days later, arrested Mr. Mandelson on suspicion of misconduct in public office. The arrest stemmed from emails showing he may have provided Epstein an internal government report outlining options for the United Kingdom to raise funds in the aftermath of the 2008 financial crisis.Another seemed to show Mr. Mandelson agreeing to lobby government officials on Epstein’s behalf to reduce taxes on bankers’ bonuses.Mr. Mandelson is free without bail as the investigation continues. He has not been charged and has previously denied any wrongdoing.Mr. Robbins told the committee on Tuesday that he was not permitted to say what caused the security concern, but said it did not involve Mr. Mandelson’s ties to Epstein.Mr. Mandelson had been a major figure in the Labour Party for decades and had the nickname the Prince of Darkness for his ruthless political style. Local elections are scheduled for May 7 and Mr. Starmer’s Labour party is expected to suffer big losses in the vote.

Fired Foreign Office Official Says Starmer’s Office Had ‘Dismissive Attitude’ Toward Mandelson Security Check

Fired Foreign Office Official Says Starmer’s Office Had ‘Dismissive Attitude’ Toward Mandelson Security Check

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