Highlights
- Starmer accepts he unknowingly misled MPs over Mandelson's failed security checks.
- Foreign Office overruled vetting recommendation and kept Starmer in the dark.
- Top civil servant Sir Olly Robbins sacked and set to face MPs on Tuesday.
Starmer had told the Commons on three separate occasions that "full due process" was followed when Mandelson was appointed US ambassador.
That position has now unravelled following revelations that United Kingdom Security Vetting recommended against Mandelson's security clearance before he took up the Washington post.
Downing Street has said Starmer would not have appointed Mandelson had he been made aware of that recommendation.
The admission has been met with shock across Westminster, given the sensitivity of the Washington ambassador role.
Questions mount Up
The Foreign Office took the rare step of overruling the official vetting recommendation, allowing Mandelson to be appointed regardless.
Documents released by the Cabinet Office show that then-cabinet secretary Lord Simon Case appeared to advise Starmer to complete security vetting before announcing any appointment. That advice was not followed.
Mandelson was announced for the Washington role in December last year, with vetting only taking place afterwards.
The documents also show Mandelson was offered access to higher-tier briefings before his vetting was finalised.
Starmer said he would make it "crystal clear" to MPs that he had been left in the dark and described the Foreign Office's failure to inform him as "unforgivable."
He instructed officials to urgently establish the full facts when he was finally told about the vetting decision last Tuesday.
Downing Street and the Cabinet Office said they had asked the Foreign Office "repeated questions" to be assured the proper process had been followed during the appointment, though No 10 did not explain why those questions were asked or whether they stemmed from existing concerns.
The row has already cost Olly Robbins his job. The most senior civil servant at the Foreign Office was effectively dismissed last week, with critics accusing Starmer of throwing him "under the bus."
Robbins is taking legal advice and is due to appear before the Foreign Affairs Committee on Tuesday, a moment No 10 will be watching closely.
Downing Street has pushed back against suggestions from Robbins's allies that he was legally prevented from telling ministers about the vetting failure, arguing there is a clear difference between being involved in a decision and simply being informed of it.
Opposition leader Kemi Badenoch and Reform UK's Nigel Farage have both called on Starmer to resign.
