The former lead civil servant at the Foreign Office, Sir Olly Robbins, sacked by the prime minister and foreign secretary last week, will give his side of the story in Parliament this morning.
Sir Olly Robbins, who had been the permanent under secretary at the Foreign Office since January 2025, was removed from his post last Thursday evening after the prime minister discovered he had not been told by Sir Olly that Peter Mandelson had failed his vetting process to be the UK's ambassador in Washington.
Sir Olly is expected to defend his decision not to tell Keir Starmer and is understood to be bruised and upset at both losing his job and the loud, repeated and personal criticisms of his conduct.
A friend of Sir Olly told the BBC, in apparent contrast with how he feels he has been treated: "Olly doesn't do personal. He never has and he never will."
He is likely to set out to the committee the context in which his initial decision was taken – that Lord Mandelson's appointment as ambassador had already been publicly announced and his interpretation of the law, the Constitutional Reform and Governance Act, 2010, was that he was not authorised to share the conclusions of the UK Security Vetting process.
Why This News Matters:
Trust is what this is really about. Keir Starmer says he didn't know about the vetting problem, but more and more people are doubting that. And once you start to doubt, it's hard to get rid of it.
Dispute Over Vetting Disclosure and Legal Interpretation
The prime minister's allies say this morning, as Sir Keir said in the House of Commons on Monday, that their view of the law is very different, and Sir Olly could and should have shared that information with ministers.
Sir Keir supporters are confused as to why Sir Olly, who initially refused to share the material, kept that position after Lord Mandelson was fired and when doubts about the procedure that led to his appointment arose.
Emily Thornberry, the chair of the Foreign Affairs Select Committee, is unhappy with Sir Olly for failing to tell the committee what he knew when they expressly asked about Lord Mandelson's screening.
A significant concern ahead of the committee's questioning is whether Sir Olly recognizes sharing what he knew with anyone else, and if so, who and what he chose to and did not disclose them.
The prime minister will hope that the former top civil servant's evidence would reinforce their position that he was given numerous opportunity to be informed but did not take them.
Political Pressure and Calls for Accountability
Sir Keir Starmer is set to face another bruising day over the Peter Mandelson scandal, as the sacked senior civil servant he sought to blame for the appointment prepares to give his side of the story.
In an intense two-hour face-off in the Commons on Monday, which saw two MPs booted out for calling him a liar, the prime minister reiterated he made the wrong call in appointing Lord Mandelson as US ambassador – but repeated he would not have done so had he known the ex-Labour minister had failed the vetting process.
He has claimed he only found out last Tuesday that the Foreign Office had approved the appointment without telling him and has pinned the blame on Sir Olly Robbins.
Conservative leader Kemi Badenoch has called for the PM to resign and accused him of throwing his staff and officials "under the bus".
Other leaders of opposition parties have already joined her in asking Sir Keir to leave.
Evidence, Media Scrutiny and “Smoking Gun” Claims
The Independent's evidence raised major issues regarding the prime minister's knowledge of Peter Mandelson failing security checks before to his appointment as ambassador to the United States.
Conservative leader Kemi Badenoch and many MPs questioned the prime minister about why he did not take action when The Independent contacted his then-director of communications, Tim Allan, about Lord Mandelson failing his screening and then carried a front-page story.
Senior politicians and senior federal services have characterized WhatsApp exchanges between The Independent and Mr Allan as "the smoking gun".
In a somber appearance in the Commons, the prime minister stated that he, all of his ministers, and Downing Street just learned that UK Security Vetting had urged Lord Mandelson to be denied clearance on Tuesday evening last week.
Veteran Labour MP Diane Abbott stated: "Given everything we know about Peter Mandelson's history … it's not enough for the prime minister to say nobody told me … why didn't he ask anyone?"
Civil Service Tensions and Broader Fallout
Former Labour deputy leader Harriet Harman stated that the issue has harmed the government's relationship with the civil service.
She stated: "I think it's in the civil service that they're really distraught… [Sir Keir] said he wanted [civil servants] to be 'can do'... I think a lot of the civil service think that's what Olly Robbins was trying to do."
She cautioned: "When the government is at war with the civil service, nobody wins."
Sir Keir has previously criticized portions of Whitehall, claiming that "too many people in Whitehall" are "comfortable in the tepid bath of managed decline".
The situation has deteriorated into a larger crisis, with MPs prepared for additional debate in the Commons and increased scrutiny of accountability, decision-making, and trust within government.
What to Watch Next:
Now it comes down to what Olly Robbins says. If his account doesn’t match the government’s, things could get a lot more serious, very quickly.
