{"id":124532,"date":"2026-04-21T19:39:16","date_gmt":"2026-04-21T14:39:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/nationaltimes.pk\/eng\/?p=124532"},"modified":"2026-04-21T19:39:17","modified_gmt":"2026-04-21T14:39:17","slug":"downing-street-exerted-pressure-to-approve-mandelsons-appointment-sacked-official-tells-mps","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/nationaltimes.pk\/eng\/2026\/124532\/","title":{"rendered":"Downing Street exerted pressure to approve Mandelson\u2019s appointment, sacked official tells MPs"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Web Desk(National Times)- Downing Street applied constant pressure on civil servants to approve the appointment of Peter Mandelson as UK envoy to Washington and seemed to brush off security concerns, a sacked official told MPs Tuesday.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Prime Minister Keir Starmer\u2019s office had a \u201cdismissive attitude\u201d towards the security vetting for its US envoy pick, said Olly Robbins, the foreign ministry\u2019s most senior official before being fired last week.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

He was appearing at a watchdog parliamentary committee, as Starmer remained mired in the scandal over Labour grandee Mandelson\u2019s appointment, which has haunted him for months.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Foreign Office subsequently green-lit Mandelson \u2014 who had long been known to have close ties to the late convicted<\/a> sex offender Jeffrey Epstein \u2014 despite the government now confirming independent vetting officials had recommended security clearance be denied.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

That revelation, first reported<\/a> by The Guardian<\/em> last Thursday, has prompted fresh calls for Starmer to resign, after he previously insisted all \u201cdue process\u201d had been followed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The beleaguered British leader has blamed officials for deliberately keeping him in the dark about the security clearance issue, and on Monday denied misleading parliament<\/a> with his previous statements on the scandal.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In his much-anticipated testimony, Robbins provided a more nuanced assessment, insisting he formally approved Mandelson after vetting officials \u2014 housed in another government department \u2014 concluded he was a \u201cborderline\u201d case.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI was briefed that \u2026 they were leaning towards recommending that clearance be denied but that the Foreign Office security department assessed that the risks \u2026 could be managed and\/or mitigated,\u201d Robbins told MPs.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI was also told that the risks did not relate to Mandelson\u2019s relationship with Jeffrey Epstein,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/a>\u2018Pressure\u2019<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

UK media has reported that the concerns surrounded the links of Mandelson\u2019s now-shuttered lobbying firm to Chinese companies.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Robbins recalled when he became the foreign ministry\u2019s top official in January 2025 there was a \u201cvery strong expectation \u2026 coming from Number 10 (Downing Street) that he needed to be in post and in America as quickly as humanly possible\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI\u2019m afraid what that translated into for my team in the Foreign Office \u2026 was what I felt was a generally dismissive attitude to his vetting clearance,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cMy office, the foreign secretary\u2019s office, were under constant pressure, there was an atmosphere of constant chasing.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Mandelson was named to the coveted top diplomatic post in December 2024, just weeks before US President Donald Trump was inaugurated the following month, and took up the job in February 2025.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Asked about the possibility of denying Mandelson security clearance, Robbins conceded that would have been a \u201cdifficult problem I would have been landing the foreign secretary with and the prime minister with\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But he insisted \u201cthat was not what was on my mind as we took this decision\u201d while also noting a denial would have \u201cdamaged\u201d UK-US ties.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Starmer sacked<\/a> Mandelson in September 2025, seven months after he took up the post, following new details emerging about the depth of the ex-envoy\u2019s ties to Epstein, who died in a US prison in 2019 while facing sex-trafficking charges.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/a>\u2018Bad pick\u2019<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

UK police are now investigating allegations of misconduct in office by Mandelson, 72, when he was a Labour minister more than 15 years ago.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

He was arrested<\/a> and released<\/a> in February and has not been charged.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Mandelson denies criminal wrongdoing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Overnight, Trump, who has criticised Starmer over a perceived lack of support for his war on Iran, waded into the controversy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

He agreed on his Truth Social platform that Mandelson \u201cwas a really bad pick\u201d for the Washington job.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But in a slight sign of encouragement, Trump added: \u201cPlenty of time to recover, however!\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Starmer said on Monday he has instigated a review of the security vetting process. But former civil servants have accused him of scapegoating Robbins.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Lawmakers were to hold an emergency debate in parliament on Tuesday after opposition Conservative Party leader Kemi Badenoch said there remained \u201cserious questions about what he (Starmer) knew and when\u201d.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Web Desk(National Times)- Downing Street applied constant pressure on civil servants to approve the appointment of Peter Mandelson as UK envoy to Washington and seemed to brush off security concerns, a sacked official told MPs Tuesday. Prime Minister Keir Starmer\u2019s office had a \u201cdismissive attitude\u201d towards the security vetting for its US envoy pick, said […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":124533,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-124532","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-international","entry"],"yoast_head":"\nDowning Street exerted pressure to approve Mandelson\u2019s appointment, sacked official tells MPs - Nation<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/nationaltimes.pk\/eng\/2026\/124532\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Downing Street exerted pressure to approve Mandelson\u2019s appointment, sacked official tells MPs - Nation\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Web Desk(National Times)- Downing Street applied constant pressure on civil servants to approve the appointment of Peter Mandelson as UK envoy to Washington and seemed to brush off security concerns, a sacked official told MPs Tuesday. 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