Officials requested Mandelson’s vetting details days after Independent revealed he failed

Government officials spent days trying to get information about Peter Mandelson’s security clearance last September. Independent He told Downing Street he had failed critical checks.

Cat Little, the Cabinet Office’s most senior official, told MPs on Thursday: Requested on September 15. Independent He had contacted Sir Keir Starmer’s then communications director, Tim Allan, on September 11 and later the same day published a front-page story revealing that Lord Mandelson had failed the review.

The Prime Minister told MPs that he and his ministers had only learned that the UK Security Review had recommended that Lord Mandelson be refused entry last Tuesday evening, setting off a chain of events that have engulfed his embattled government ever since. But Sir Keir faces questions over how he didn’t know about the matter when it was told directly to his communications chief and the story hit the headlines.

Ms Little, who gave evidence to the Foreign Affairs select committee on the Mandelson scandal, said their investigation had allowed her to see an audit trail showing that “on September 15 last year, the Foreign Office security team requested access to a number of documents relating to the review dossier and the requested documents were sent to the Foreign Office”. He told deputies he didn’t know who else saw the documents at the time.

The revelations about Labour’s great leader have led to calls for the prime minister to resign from across the political spectrum. Lord Mandelson was sacked months after his appointment over his links to Jeffrey Epstein and now faces a police investigation over allegations he leaked sensitive government documents to the pedophile financier while business secretary.

During the evidence hearing, committee member Alex Ballinger asked Ms Little, who revealed documents relating to peer appointment released under the low-key address procedure pushed by MPs in February, which organizations might know the outcome of the review. Independent It has been alleged that Peter Mandelson failed to investigate.”

He said he couldn’t go into too much detail “in a public forum” but didn’t deny it either. IndependentSir Olly Robbins, until last week the Foreign Office’s most senior civil servant, was reportedly sacked by the prime minister without even being asked to explain how he carried out the review saga.

In response to a question in the House of Commons on Monday from senior Conservative MP Sir Julian Lewis whether he wanted an explanation from Sir Olly, Sir Keir said: “I asked him and I didn’t accept his explanation. That’s why I dismissed him.” However, friends of the former permanent undersecretary said: Independent “no questions were asked”.

Asked exactly what information the Prime Minister had when he made the decision to fire the civil servant, Ms Little said: “I can confirm that the Prime Minister had knowledge of the matter, and while I should make it very clear here that I was not involved in the Prime Minister’s decision, I do know that there were direct discussions between the Prime Minister and Sir Olly.”

Ms Little also revealed in her evidence that there was a “presumption” that because Lord Mandelson was already a member of the House of Lords, he did not need enhanced security clearance before being sent to Washington to become the UK’s chief diplomat in the US.

He also insisted that “due process” had been followed, as Sir Keir claimed. He said Sir Olly refused to share vetting information with him and took the “very unusual” decision to request it directly from security officials. He said he had been aware of sensitive information linked to Lord Mandelson’s review since March 25.

On Wednesday, Work and Pensions Secretary Pat McFadden repeatedly denied whether he believed Sir Olly’s dismissal was fair. But Labor supporters have publicly expressed doubts about Sir Keir’s future as a result of the latest scandal. Deputy Minister Alex Norris said on Thursday that claims that the cabinet was split over the scandal were “nonsense”.

As pressure mounts on the Prime Minister, Conservative leader Kemi Badenoch is pushing for him to be referred to the privileges committee, as Boris Johnson did over Partygate, claiming he misled MPs.

Sir Keir accused his rivals of making politically motivated claims about the Mandelson review scandal. Asked during a visit to Newcastle whether he was considering resigning, he said: “Last week my political rivals were saying it was impossible for an officer not to tell me about the results of an enhanced security investigation. “It turns out my political rivals were completely wrong about this.

“Then they said I was a fraud. Turns out they were completely wrong about that. Now they’re making every argument they can, and I’ll tell you why: They’re politically opposed to what this government is trying to achieve.”

He denied misleading MPs.