Chapter 1: What is the significance of Peter Mandelson's vetting scandal?
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The notion that senior officials could make a decision of this magnitude and not inform a minister, let alone the Prime Minister, I think will strike many people as extraordinary.
That I wasn't told that Peter Mandelson had failed security vetting when he's appointed is staggering.
All of this just raises the question about, you know, who is in charge? Is it the people we elect to government, to parliament? Or is it, you know, officialdom, the state, the national security establishment? I mean, for me, that's the heart of this question.
The Guardian has exclusively revealed that Peter Mandelson, the former US ambassador, failed security clearance, but that was overruled by the Foreign Office and allegedly withheld from the Prime Minister. From The Guardian's Today In Focus, this is The Latest with me, Lucy Hoth.
Well, Paul Lewis, our investigations editor, is here, part of the team, the amazing crack squad behind this astonishing scoop that is now on the front page of every single British newspaper. A story about Peter Mandelson, the former US ambassador. It turns out failed security clearance, but that failure was overruled by the Foreign Office.
Talk to me, Paul, about the reporting that you've uncovered.
Okay. Well, I mean, I guess the key fact, the one that led late last night to the resignation of the permanent secretary in the Foreign Office, the key fact that has proven such a huge controversy for the prime minister right now is that after the point at which Peter Mandelson was announced as Starmer's pick for Washington... He had to undergo a security vetting process.
This is at the end of December 2024, wasn't it? And then he was appointed in.
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Chapter 2: How did the Foreign Office handle Mandelson's security clearance?
And according to our reporting, officials have recently been considering whether not to disclose them to the committee. And that would be a really significant thing. arguably a breach of Parliament's wishes. You know, I think that has sort of been lost. It's turned into such a huge political story, right? Keir Starmer, we're like weeks away from the May election.
I can see that Westminster is latching onto all these different aspects. But for me, it's really significant that, you know, officials, unelected officials, have been actively thinking about, and as of when we published our story, no decision had been made, not disclosing these documents, the documents at the heart of the story that relate to what we've revealed.
to Parliament's approved committee.
Yes, it speaks to something about unelected officials making these very, very significant decisions, doesn't it? Sir Ollie Robbins, who was former Permanent Secretary to the Foreign Office, the FCDO, resigned very late last night over this, effectively taking the hit for the Foreign Office's decision not to disclose this or to withhold this information.
Yeah, taking the hit or was either did it voluntarily or was forced to take the hit.
Forced to do it. But what are we hearing from Keir Starmer himself, who's been quizzed about this in Paris this morning, but also his chief secretary, Darren Jones, who was quizzed about this on the BBC this morning, because they're saying they really did not know about the existence of this failed vetting procedure.
So Starmer and his chief secretary, Darren Jones, said slightly different things. Starmer, he's furious. He says, you know, how on earth could it be that I wasn't informed of this? And I think lots of people in the country would be asking the same thing. You know, this is the prime minister. It's his pick for Washington. You know, if you're ambassador to Washington, you have to.
handle highly sensitive matters. You look at top secret documents from GCHQ, the national security agency in the US. How could it be that failing vetting is not something that is mentioned? The failure of vetting is not mentioned to the prime minister. Darren Jones was on the radio this morning and he actually shot down our reporting.
about officials, or sought to refute or deny our reporting, that officials had been considering withholding this information from Parliament. He said, quote, that's not true. We're very confident it is true. And I guess we'll see how that plays out.
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Chapter 3: What details emerged about the security vetting process?
Thank you for your time. Thank you. That's it for today. My huge thanks again to Paul Lewis, The Guardian's Head of Investigations. Do read The Guardian's ongoing coverage of this story, including yesterday's exclusive written by Paul alongside our political editor, Bipa Kriera, and investigations correspondent, Henry Dyer. Find all of that and more coverage over at theguardian.com.
I also really recommend today's episode of Today in Focus, which is looking at Donald Trump versus the Pope and what it means for the president's relationship with the Catholic and evangelical Christian wing of his MAGA base. Thanks for listening to this episode of the latest, the new evening edition of Today in Focus. Today in Focus will be back in your feeds as usual on Monday morning.
The latest will be back on Monday night. Have a lovely weekend. This episode was presented by me, Lucy Hoth. It was produced by Bryony Moore. The senior producer was Ryan Ramgobin and the lead producer was Zoe Hitch.
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