Chapter 1: What led to the Peter Mandelson security vetting scandal?
This is The Guardian. You didn't need deep vetting to tell you that he was going to be a risky appointment. And we knew that he'd been sacked from previous Labour cabinets twice.
There was already a very, very strong expectation coming from Number 10 that he needed to be in post and in America as quickly as humanly possible.
At its heart, it comes down to that original sin, the prime minister's judgment or lack of judgment in appointing Peter Mandelson. The fact that he could be this Trump whisperer, that quite clearly was the wrong decision, a catastrophically wrong decision.
The former Foreign Office chief sacked over the Peter Mandelson vetting scandal revealed by The Guardian has finally given his side of the story in an explosive appearance before MPs. From The Guardian's Today In Focus, this is The Latest with me, Lucy Hough.
Well, we're thrilled to have Pippa Crera, our political editor and one of the three reporters behind the extraordinary Guardian exclusive published last week that has, of course, caused so much fallout in the last few days that, Pippa, you have been responsible for much of the coverage of.
It's not usual, is it, that a former civil servant giving an appearance before the Foreign Affairs Select Committee becomes this kind of blockbuster event. There were three people on my train carriage watching the live stream this morning, which felt quite unusual given it's not a direct route into Westminster.
But this is Ollie Robbins, the former Permanent Secretary to the Foreign Office, who has sort of taken the hit, hasn't he, for the Mandelson fallout. Why was this so significant?
As you say, Lucy, it's very unusual to have so much focus on a hearing. But ultimately, it's because this has become a key moment in answering the question that so many MPs and so many members of the public, including those on your train this morning, have, which is how on earth Did Peter Mandelson end up as our ambassador to Washington despite having failed his security vetting?
And how on earth did the prime minister not know about it? And ultimately, that gets to the heart of why there's been this huge interest in his appearance before the Foreign Affairs Select Committee this morning.
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Chapter 2: How did Olly Robbins describe the pressure from Downing Street?
Let's sort of break down the key issues that were raised. I think Ollie Robbins made it clear that he felt that he was under political pressure to sort of green light this appointment, despite the reservations, despite the meetings that he'd had and the knowledge he possessed about this vetting.
Yeah, and I think it's worth flagging that Ollie Robbins came into this job in the Foreign Office after the Prime Minister had announced that Peter Mandelson was going to be his man in Washington, after they'd gone through the official bit of the process, which is going to the King.
And even if they say that these jobs, these postings only proceed once somebody has got their secure vetting, he is almost a fait accompli by the time he arrived.
And so the vetting process was also already underway, though what he revealed was that the Foreign Office, not just during his time, but particularly under his predecessor, Philip Barton, had come under quite a lot of pressure from Downing Street to expedite that process.
Now, what Downing Street would say is because they wanted to get Peter Manderson to the embassy in Washington before Donald Trump or as soon as possible after Donald Trump entered the White House. But nevertheless, it was absolutely clear to Ollie Robbins that the expectation from his bosses was that Peter Mandelson was going come what may.
It's worth saying that Downing Street have denied these claims by Robbins that there was an atmosphere of pressure over the appointment of Mandelson as US ambassador or that there was a dismissive approach to his vetting.
One thing I found striking about what Robbins told the committee this morning was that he felt personally it might be reputationally, diplomatically, politically damaging for the UK to withdraw their choice of ambassador as the second Trump administration was incoming. And that he said he was free to say now that he was no longer a civil servant.
And obviously, as we know, it was the view inside Downing Street that they felt strongly, however much they might regret that now, that Lord Mandelson was the correct choice for ambassador at that time.
Yeah, and I think that's really important point, Lucy, because ultimately that's at the heart of why this has become a big problem for the prime minister, is that all roads lead back to what one MP described to me as the original sin, which was Keir Starmer's decision to appoint Peter Mannington in the first place, despite knowing everything that we already knew about him initially.
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