Paul Johnston

And then there's a different perception on the process, which is Ollie Robbins' view was that he was the ultimate decider under the rules as he understood them.

And it was his job just to inform ministers what the outcome was.

And the outcome was that he decided on the basis of professional expert advice that Mandelson could be given this clearance, albeit with certain mitigations in place, the nature of which we don't know and we shouldn't know.

Whereas the view the Prime Minister had was that he should have been told that there had been concerns raised about Mandelson during the vetting process, even if the Foreign Office had ultimately taken the decision to clear him.

So because of the release of all the documents related to Mandelson, because of the ongoing and

But certainly it's not a needy time for the Foreign Office, whose workforce is being cut by 25%.

And at a time when the world is ever more in need of a strong professional diplomatic service in every country, then it's a challenging time for my former colleagues in those places.