Archie Bland

The Mandelson stuff, it's the story that doesn't go away.

And this iteration of it is arguably the most difficult for the prime minister.

We hear this from Labour MPs, that even though they think that his position is probably ultimately terminal, they would prefer to do it later in the year, partly because that would mean that Andy Burnham might be an MP again, and he is seen by a lot of people as the one who could lead them to a better position.

Yeah.

And, you know, it has felt like a week in which we have been exposed to the, although it's a cliche, the most Sir Humphrey-ish version of the civil service, in this case, in competition, because you've had these two accounts from these very senior civil servants framed in quite cautious and precise language that's often difficult to follow.

You often feel like you need a PhD in this stuff to get your head around it, but actually that have been

if this is possible, quietly explosive.

So the thing about Cat Little's evidence, as you say, that was really significant is that she said that the Foreign Office, Ollie Robbins, refused to hand over this summary of Mandelson's security vetting to her.

And she was the person who was in charge of putting together the documents that Parliament had sought to be released by this mechanism called the Humble Address.

So that's really important because it suggests that Robbins was perhaps taking a view that Parliament's right to see this material, even through the mechanism of the ISC, the security committee that is tasked with reviewing the most sensitive stuff,

was at least in question.

And that is something that puts a lot of pressure on him, even as he had previously put pressure on Keir Starmer.

So it has been a really difficult week for everybody involved.

But by the end of it, it does feel like if Starmer had hoped that all of this evidence would put him in a stronger position, it still feels like a war between mandarins, but one that will ultimately rebound on him.

Yeah, what Richard Dearlove has to say is really significant.

He's a former head of MI6 and he is voicing something that I think is important to hear in this conversation, because whereas Ollie Robbins and quite a lot of the civil servants who have supported him have sought to cast it as entirely ordinary or at least understandable for the Foreign Office to override the decision of this group called UK Security Vetting,

Dearlove makes the point that while Robbins has sought to present this as a borderline decision, that isn't what UK security vetting came back with.

In fact, they came back with quite a clear verdict and it is entirely in Robbins' gift to override that.

But it is also very unusual to do so.

and claiming that it is borderline should not dilute what we know from the evidence which is that they did in fact reach this clear conclusion and you know what dear love said is that you might say it's borderline you might say that the decision was difficult to take but once that decision is taken in his words there are no gray areas there are no soft edges and if somebody is denied developed vetting then they shouldn't have access to the kinds of material that it provides so