Keir’s latest ‘fall guy’ fights back: Allies of Foreign Office chief warn there was ‘no basis’ to sack him over  Mandelson vetting… amid fears he is now in line for a bumper payoff

Keir Starmer, the latest ‘fall man’ in the Mandelson scandal, signaled today he will not go quietly as his allies insist there is ‘no basis’ for sacking him.

Foreign Office chief Olly Robbins was sacked last night after the ‘furious’ Prime Minister claimed he was not informed that investigators had warned New Labour’s architect against the appointment.

Mandelson was appointed US ambassador regardless in February last year.

But despite Sir Keir saying he was left ‘unforgivably’ in the dark, Sir Olly’s friends are adamant he has done nothing wrong. Ciaran Martin, the former head of the National Cyber ​​Security Centre, said the mandarin would not be allowed to tell ministers details of the review.

The Prime Minister’s right-hand man Darren Jones referred his case to broadcast studios this morning but appeared to accept that processes were followed.

This raises doubts about the reasons for sacking Sir Olly, a highly experienced civil servant on an annual salary of £240,000. Sir Keir told the official he had lost confidence in him following a phone call last night.

The Foreign Affairs Committee has invited Sir Olly to give evidence on Tuesday in what could be a critical moment for the Prime Minister.

There is widespread suspicion in Westminster about the idea that no one in No10, or any minister, had knowledge of the status of the inquiry until this week.

Senior officials sacked by Sir Keir in the past have already been given huge compensation packages

Senior officials sacked by Sir Keir in the past have already received large compensation packages.

These include Chris Wormald, whose exit package was said to be worth £260,000 when he was sacked as Cabinet Secretary in February, just a year after being appointed.

Mandelson received £75,000 in compensation after he was sacked as US ambassador over his long-standing ties to pedophile Jeffrey Epstein. Sir Olly himself suggested this solution.

Sir Keir records a staggering body count as his government reels from the Mandelson scandal.

Chief of staff Morgan McSweeney resigned in February, saying he took ‘full responsibility’ for the appointment.

Communications director Tim Allan also left that month, insisting he wanted to ‘allow a new No10 team to be formed’.

At a rally in 2020, Sir Keir promised to ‘carry the can’ on institutional failings rather than blaming staff.

‘Listen to me: As Director of Public Prosecutions for five years, I had 8,000 staff… I carried the can when they made mistakes. I would never open my staff and you should never open your staff,” he told Labor activists.

He added: ‘I will bear the blame for the mistakes of every organization I manage.’

Mr Martin told BBC Radio 4’s World at One that he was ‘disappointed and saddened’ by the departure of his ‘friend’ Sir Olly.

‘To be honest, I don’t understand what the basis for the dismissal is and I think there is some confusion around the portrayal of what is a fairly complex vetting process,’ he said.

‘There was, I hear, a suggestion that Peter Mandelson should fail the review, a decision which was later rejected by the permanent secretary, Sir Oliver Robbins, and this was not forwarded to 10 Downing Street.

‘This whole story is actually wrong in terms of how the process works. I have dealt with many security clearance cases in my own career, particularly as head of the Cabinet Secretary’s office for a number of years.

‘In this story it is presented as… a driving test. Someone evaluates you and it succeeds and then someone invalidates it.

‘That’s not the way it works, especially at this very high level, it’s a risk assessment. ‘Most people have some risks… it could be money, it could be relationships, it could be connections abroad, it could be relatives, etc.’

Mr Martin said ‘particularly where an appointment has already been announced’, ‘an analysis of the risks and a tackling plan will be presented’ to the decision-making authority.

‘His role could be permanent secretary and in that case obviously… it’s to say that the risk is manageable, so we should go ahead or not,’ he added.

‘The one thing you never do, no matter what, is tell ministers. Because otherwise the investigation system would collapse.

‘If ministers make senior appointments and you say go and look, we’ve investigated, and it’s their money, their private life and so on, then no one will attempt to investigate.’

Mr Martin said Sir Olly had a ‘duty not to disclose’ details of the review to Downing Street.

‘There is no override, which is almost an oxymoron in this case because the decision maker is the Foreign Office apparatus… And the investigation system is quite clear that it does not inform ministers about the individual details of review cases,’ he said.

‘If the Ministry decides not to issue the inspection certificate, this will of course be made public; Ministers will definitely be notified if someone fails the review.

‘And that’s all they’ll ever know. They will not be given details of why.’

Mr Martin said ‘The Prime Minister must be held accountable for his own words’.

‘I cannot understand the basis for this decision. “As far as we know, there is no abuse of process, there is no failure of process, there is not only a duty to disclose the details of a review case, but also a duty not to disclose them,” he said.

Mr Martin said ‘a lot’ of information about Mandelson was publicly available before his appointment.

‘It doesn’t seem to me that there is something yet unknown that he has signed in terms of this risk assessment.

‘So I do not see how it can be relied upon to claim that he made a serious misjudgment in this case.’

Mr Martin said he spoke to Sir Olly ‘briefly’. ‘I think he’s starting to come to terms with the pain of losing the job he loves,’ he said.

In interviews this morning, Mr Jones argued Sir Keir was ‘right’ to tell Parliament that due process was followed throughout Mandelson’s appointment.

He told BBC Breakfast: ‘The Prime Minister was right to tell the House that due process had been followed, because it had been; But the fact that this process does not require officials to tell the Secretary of State or the Prime Minister that they are ignoring the advice of security and vetting officials is simply unacceptable.’

On ITV’s Good Morning Britain, Mr Jones said he had the ‘right’ to ignore the Foreign Office’s review recommendations.

‘When I learned last night that the State Department and a small number of other organizations had the right to ignore the recommendation… I immediately suspended those rights and ordered an immediate audit,’ he said.

Giving evidence to the Foreign Affairs Committee earlier, Sir Olly claimed that Sir Keir personally carried out the Mandelson appointment. He took over the position at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs after the ambassador announcement was made but before it was finalized.

When asked whether the Ministry of Foreign Affairs would prefer a different candidate, he said: ‘When we made this statement, it was clear that the Prime Minister wanted to make this appointment himself.

‘I therefore understand that the FCDO was informed of the decision and acted upon it and sought and obtained the King’s approval for the appointment through the Secretary of State.

These include Chris Wormald, whose exit package was said to be worth £260,000 when he was sacked as Cabinet Secretary in February, just a year after being appointed.

Mandelson received £75,000 in compensation after he was sacked as US ambassador over his long-standing ties to pedophile Jeffrey Epstein. Sir Olly personally recommended this deal

The Prime Minister’s private secretary Morgan McSweeney resigned in February, saying she took ‘full responsibility’ for the appointment

‘In this case, as Chris explained, the Prime Minister himself took advice and formed a view and we acted on that view.’

Nigel Farage said Sir Olly Robbins was ‘one of the most professional civil servants in this country’ and there was ‘no way’ he would decide to override vetting procedures on his own.

The Reform UK leader told LBC: ‘There’s no way a man like that could unilaterally make that kind of decision and equally the Prime Minister can’t stand up and say Mandelson was vetted and now claim he wasn’t told afterwards.

‘It’s not incompetence, even Keir Starmer isn’t that incompetent; This is sheer, blatant fraud.’