Former Civil Servant Reveals Pressure to Appoint Peter Mandelson

Right-hand man to top ministers for over two decades, Sir Oliver Robbins, one of Whitehall's most respected mandarins. A Rolls-Royce of the civil service, now thrown under the bus. Sir Ollie sacked as the head of the Foreign Office by the Prime Minister, and now in front of MPs to give his side of the story over the appointment and vetting of Peter Mandelson. Describing a pressure-cooker atmosphere in government. Constant chasing, constant pressure. Has this been delivered yet? Never any interest, as far as I recall, in whether, but only an interest in when.

Get this done and get it done before inauguration. And little interest in even getting the vetting completed. The handover briefing I was getting as I arrived at post was what I felt was a generally dismissive attitude to his vetting clearance. And a position taken from the Cabinet Office was that there was no need to vet Mandelson. Challenging the PM's account that Mandelson had failed to develop security vetting. I was told that it was a borderline case and that UKSV were leaning against granting clearance. A damning account which Downing Street quickly rejected, denying there was a dismissive attitude or pressure applied around the vetting process. But the head

of the union for civil servants warns damage has been done. What's the mood in the civil service now like towards this administration? I mean, it's the Johnson era, you know, it's it's that kind of sense or feeling that there is no compact, no understanding, no trust between ministers and civil servants. Not just the civil service incensed, Robin's testimony handed ammunition to MPs on all sides of the house, too. Peter Mandelson is a man who has proven he's greedy for money, greedy for glamour, greedy for the status, greedy for power, and willing to break the rules to get

them. Why did the Prime Minister do this? Why did he appoint Mandelson? Why did he announce the appointment before the national security had been done? And why was he so determined to get Mandelson in post? Robbins will be a loss to the FCDO and the country. All brought about by a series of catastrophic political decisions by number 10. The Labour bench is sparse, the dwindling band of Starmer loyalists laughed off. There is one thing I would say about this Prime Minister is that he is absolutely rock solid when it comes to process.

You may laugh. There's always two sides to any story, and Ollie Robin's version of events around Peter Mandelson's appointment has put the Prime Minister under even more fire. Robbins painted a picture of a number 10 that wanted Mandelson in at any cost, and a Prime Minister and his team that didn't much care about the vetting process, despite what Keir Starmer says now. And it leaves the impression that the Prime Minister is scapegoating a civil servant for his own massive error of judgment. It has badly damaged his relations with Whitehall, worsened his already poor standing with Labour MPs, and perhaps most stingingly, leaves you at home questioning his

leadership and his integrity. Is this going to bring down your government, sir? Starmer trying to march on, but the shadow of Mandelson only darkening his prospects as Prime Minister. This scandal still has some way to go. Beth Rigby, Sky News, Westminster.