Robbins Sacked Over Mandelson Vetting

A former top civil servant has accused the UK government of throwing Sir Olly Robbins “under the bus” after he was sacked for overruling security vetting concerns raised about Peter Mandelson’s appointment as ambassador to the United States.

Lord Simon McDonald, who served as permanent secretary at the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office from 2015 to 2020, told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme that Number 10 “wanted a scalp and they wanted it quickly” following the revelation that Mandelson had been granted security clearance despite advice from security officials against the appointment.

Sir Olly Robbins left his post as the most senior civil servant in the Foreign Office earlier this week after it emerged that the department had cleared Mandelson for the role of Britain’s representative in Washington, overriding recommendations from security services.

Lord McDonald described the situation as “the biggest crisis in the diplomatic service since I joined it in 1982,” accusing Downing Street of treating Robbins as a “scalp” to deflect criticism over the Mandelson affair.

The government has maintained that Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer only became aware of the security concerns on Tuesday, though critics have alleged a cover-up after reports surfaced that officials had been informed of the vetting issues as early as seven months prior.

The Independent originally revealed the story last year and had discussed it with Sir Keir’s then-director of communications, Tim Allan, who responded at the time that vetting had been conducted by the Foreign and Commonwealth Office “in the normal way.”

Lord McDonald confirmed to the BBC that he believed Sir Olly Robbins had “basically been thrown under the bus” in the aftermath of the scandal.