Starmer-Mandelson latest: PM reported to ethics adviser over vetting row as calls grow for him to resign

Nicole Wootton-Cane reports:

Sir Olly Robbins first came into the spotlight during the turbulent Brexit years.

The Oxford-educated 50-year-old was the central figure behind former prime minister Theresa May’s troubled Brexit deal and has been repeatedly criticized by Eurosceptics for her role in the negotiations and for obstructing the process.

He took charge of negotiations with the EU in the middle of talks, after which Brexit secretary David Davis was sacked over a lack of progress, but the deal was repeatedly rejected by the House of Commons.

Before his Brexit fame, he had worked for every prime minister since Sir Tony Blair and was known as a highly effective but low-profile civil servant.

The government student studied politics, philosophy and economics at Oxford in 1996 before moving straight to the Treasury, where he rose steadily through the ranks until Sir Tony approached him to become his principal private secretary.

After the 2010 general election, then prime minister David Cameron appointed Sir Olly as deputy national security adviser, where he was responsible for intelligence, security and resilience.

Despite calls for the Prime Minister to go, his opponents have attacks in only two directions: that Mandelson knew he failed the review and therefore lied to Parliament, or that he was not told, which makes him incompetent. Sean O’Grady says he won’t be resigning anytime soon:

Political correspondent Athena Stavrou writes:

Downing Street said parliament had a “right to know” that Peter Mandelson had failed its vetting, but did not say whether the prime minister had misled parliament.

Asked whether Sir Keir Starmer had misled parliament about the review, a Downing Street spokesman said: “He is very clear that Parliament has a right to know, and indeed he has a right to know, and it is completely surprising that the UK Security Review recommended against enhanced security clearance for Peter Mandelson and was not told, the Secretary of State was not told, and consequently Parliament was not told.”

The spokesman did not address whether Sir Keir thought he had been misled by the Foreign Office, saying: “It was surprising that he was not told that he had failed enhanced scrutiny when he told Parliament that due process had been followed.

“That’s why he ordered an urgent investigation into how this decision was taken and why he wasn’t informed before.”

Political correspondent Athena Stavrou writes:

Downing Street insisted that no one at No 10 knew that the security services had recommended against the appointment of Lord Peter Mandelson as US ambassador, despite The Independent saying various sources had made the allegations seven months ago.

The Independent’s political editor David Maddox ranked these statements 10th last year and said the scrutiny was being carried out “in the normal way”.

But on Friday a Downing Street spokesman denied anyone at No 10 was aware of the advice.

Disputing The Independent’s reporting, Downing Street said it “did not accept that the media investigation was equivalent… No 10, as I said, repeatedly asked the Foreign Office for the facts of this case and they were never told what the UK vetting had recommended.”

Downing Street was once again forced to insist that the prime minister will not resign over Peter Mandelson’s latest revelations.

Asked on Friday whether Sir Keir Starmer would resign, a Downing Street spokesman said: “No, and it is surprising that you have heard the fact that Peter Mandelson was not told when he was appointed that he had failed the investigation.”

Previously, the prime minister’s principal secretary, Darren Jones, said his Labor colleagues were not reconsidering Sir Keir as their leader, despite more facts coming to light about the ill-considered appointment of Lord Peter Mandelson as US ambassador.

Keir Starmer’s case was that he misled the House of Commons; but he did not do this on purpose because he did not know that Peter Mandelson had failed his security clearance.

Unless it can be proven that Starmer knew this, he will not resign yet, despite demands from excited opposition parties.

But the spillover effect of the decision to appoint Mandelson to Washington will continue to eat away at what is left of the prime minister’s reputation and is likely to shorten his tenure at 10 Downing Street.

The latest twist to the Mandelson story has been brewing for some time. Our political editor David Maddox reported in September last year, the day after Mandelson was sacked, that the new ambassador had “failed MI6 scrutiny”.

When this was put to the prime minister’s spokesman, the response was: “The review was carried out by the FCDO in the normal way.”

This was not a denial and was probably a line assigned to No 10 by the Foreign Office, but its significance was lost in the noise and screams about Mandelson’s departure.

Our Whitehall editor Kate Devlin reports:

The Liberal Democrats have formally reported Sir Keir Starmer to Sir Laurie Magnus for failing to inform Parliament when he learned Lord Mandelson had failed his vetting.

The Liberal Democrats’ report to ethics adviser Sir Laurie Magnus argues that the Prime Minister breached the Ministerial Code, which states that it is “very important” that Ministers give accurate information to Parliament and correct errors “at the earliest opportunity”.

A government spokesman confirmed this week that the Prime Minister was informed “earlier this week” that Lord Mandelson had failed his vetting.

Disclosures about the review failure were reported Thursday afternoon.

The Liberal Democrats noted that despite knowing Mandelson had failed the investigation, the Prime Minister failed to update Parliament during Wednesday’s Prime Minister’s Questions (PMQs) and instead chose to withhold the information until it was revealed through the media.

The party’s Cabinet Office spokeswoman, Lisa Smart, wrote to Laurie Magnus to notify her of the possible breach of the ministerial code.

Liberal Democrat Cabinet Office spokeswoman Lisa Smart MP said: “The Prime Minister did not tell Parliament that he knew Mandelson was not being vetted on Wednesday, probably hoping the truth would not come out. “What disgraceful behavior for a Prime Minister.

“Standing in front of the dispatch box and denying such important information to Parliament appears to be a serious breach of ministerial code. I have therefore written to the ethics adviser to report this breach and ask him to investigate at the earliest opportunity.”

“Starmer has made egregious errors of judgment from the very beginning of the Mandelson scandal, and it appears he continues to make them. His position is no longer tenable.”

The Foreign Office’s most senior civil servant, Olly Robbins, was dismissed from his post yesterday following developments regarding Lord Peter Mandelson’s review process.

The officer was appointed in January last year, a month after Mandelson’s appointment was confirmed but a month before he took office.

Sir Keir Starmer and Foreign Secretary Yvette Cooper are understood to have expressed their loss of confidence in permanent undersecretary Sir Olly.

Sir Olly was coming from a position at a global strategic consultancy firm where Hakluyt was partner and head of Europe, Middle East and Africa.

He previously worked at Goldman Sachs and has also held senior leadership roles at the Cabinet Office, HM Treasury, Downing Street, and was Second Permanent Secretary at the Home Office and Permanent Secretary in the Department for Exiting the European Union.

At the time of his appointment, David Lammy said: “From day one I decided that I wanted to restructure the FCDO to act as the international delivery arm of this government’s missions and also to design our wider international strategy.

“Olly Robbins is exactly the person to help me achieve this and I am delighted to welcome him to FCDO.”