Ex-UK Official Says PM’s Office Pressured Him on Mandelson

A former top British bureaucrat said he felt political pressure to clear Peter Mandelson to become ambassador to the US, in dramatic public testimony sure to further imperil the leadership of Prime Minister Keir Starmer.

Olly Robbins — a career civil servant who was the most senior official in the Foreign Office until Starmer fired him last week — told lawmakers on Tuesday that the prime minister’s office had a “dismissive approach” to Mandelson’s security vetting. No. 10 created an “atmosphere of pressure” to “get it done” by publicly announcing the appointment before vetting was completed, Robbins said in his high-stakes appearance before the Foreign Affairs Select Committee.