Sir Keir Starmer’s decision to send Lord Mandelson to Washington has reopened a damaging saga for the prime minister.
The fallout on Thursday led to the effective removal of Sir Olly Robbins, the Foreign Office’s most senior civil servant, and has left some Labour figures and opposition politicians suggesting the episode could still threaten the prime minister’s position.
Timeline of events: soon after 15:00 BST the Guardian reported that Lord Mandelson had failed his security vetting and that the Foreign Office had overruled that finding. Attempts to get prompt clarification from the Foreign Office, Downing Street, then-Foreign Secretary David Lammy’s office and the Cabinet Office drew no immediate responses. The lack of swift rebuttal allowed the report to stand unchallenged for hours.
Opposition parties seized on the story and publicly accused the prime minister of misleading the House of Commons — an allegation that, if knowingly true, would normally demand resignation.
As the BBC prepared to go live for the News at Six, a government statement landed saying neither the prime minister nor any minister had been aware that a vetting fail had been recorded. The opposition then resumed their public attacks, questioning how the prime minister could have been unaware of the process.
Sir Keir is expected to explain what he knew and when in Parliament, likely on Monday. Insiders say he was informed on Tuesday evening while officials were reviewing documents about Lord Mandelson that Parliament had asked to be published. Those close to him describe him as furious.
Former Downing Street staffers say they had no prior knowledge, and friends of Morgan McSweeney, the prime minister’s then chief of staff, say he was also unaware. Lord Mandelson is reported to have been kept in the dark as well.
Within government there is a suggestion the Foreign Office knew of the vetting outcome but failed to inform ministers, or at least failed to ensure the information reached the foreign secretary or prime minister. That breakdown is said to have prompted Sir Keir and the current foreign secretary, Yvette Cooper, to push Sir Olly Robbins out. Sir Olly has not commented publicly.
Some officials have argued the vetting advice may not have been an unequivocal fail and that the Foreign Office treated it as such while other departments did not. Regardless, that does not explain why the Foreign Office’s conclusion was not passed on to ministers.
Labour MPs expressed shock and dismay. One said the idea that the prime minister was genuinely unaware is currently the most plausible explanation; another admitted being “lost for words.” A long-running critic of Downing Street told reporters that cabinet colleagues must now see the prime minister’s position as effectively untenable.
This is the last thing Sir Keir needed. And, given ongoing questions about who knew what and when, it is unlikely to be the end of the story.