McSweeney insists he never 'bullied' civil servants as former Starmer aide prepares for bombshell committee appearance

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Sir Keir Starmer's former Chief of Staff has been accused of telling Sir Philip Barton, then-permanent secretary at the Foreign Office, to "just f***ing approve" Mandelson's posting to Washington.

Speaking at a Kyiv security conference, the former aide told reporters: “I find it strange reading about a character with the same name as mine sometimes. I don’t recognise that character.”

Mr McSweeney resigned as Starmer's most senior advisor in February to "take responsibility" for recommending Mandelson to be appointed as the UK's Ambassador to the US.

Mr McSweeney will appear before the Foreign Affairs Committee on Tuesday to give evidence over the Mandelson scandal.

His testimony will come on the same day that Barton is set to contradict the Prime Minister’s claim that Number 10 exerted no pressure "whatsoever" over the appointment of Mandelson.

Starmer's future could hinge on the testimony which the two men give to the influential committee.

Their versions of events will follow that of former Foreign Office permanent undersecretary Sir Olly Robbins and Cabinet Office permanent secretary Cat Little over the saga.

Sir Olly heaped blame for Mandelson being security cleared against the recommendations of the UK Security Vetting agency on Downing Street, understood to mean Mr McSweeney.

Whereas on Thursday, Ms Little alleged that the Foreign Office refused to share key files about Lord Mandelson’s vetting, leaving her forced to request the information from security officials, which she described as “very unusual”.

The official told the committee she had “multiple discussions” with Sir Olly while trying to acquire the information, continuing: “In the middle of March, I have a meeting with Sir Olly and a senior member of his team, and this is after the point that I’ve been told that this summary document exists."

She said: "I specifically ask to see this document and any decision-making audit trail around those judgments at the time. It was made clear to me that that information would not be forthcoming.”

Asked by committee chairwoman Dame Emily Thornberry who was not forthcoming with the information, the top Cabinet Office civil servant responded: “Sir Olly.”

She added: "This was in the context of 'a lot of back and forth discussion about the status of how we would treat vetting information'".

She also defended a three-week delay before she handed the file to the Prime Minister, after she finally received a summary of the advice on March 25, 2026, claiming she believed she was obligated to seek legal advice beforehand due to the highly classified nature of the information.

Amid a bruising week, the Prime Minister has hit out at his political opponents seeking to capitalise on the scandal.

Sir Keir Starmer accused his opponents of attempting to derail the government, insisting the "real divide is politics" although he stopped short of denying rumours of a split within his Cabinet.

Asked if he had considered quitting, the Prime Minister hit back that his critics were "opposed politically" to the government.

He told broadcasters in Newcastle earlier today: "I think it's very important to see what's going on here.

"Last week, my political opponents were saying that there's no way a civil servant wouldn't have told me about the outcome of a developed vetting security exercise. Turns out my political opponents were completely wrong about that.

"Then they said that I was dishonest. It turns out they were completely wrong about that. They are now putting any allegation they can and I will tell you for why - they are opposed politically to what this Government is trying to achieve."

Pointing to Labour's employment rights laws, investment in the NHS and the incoming new rules for landlords, he continued: "But my political opponents don't like that and so you have these allegations that keep on coming.

It comes after Sir Keir was pressed earlier today on whether there was a split within the Cabinet.

Avoiding answering directly, he stated: "The cabinet is working really hard on a huge amount of issues and what we’re delivering at the moment," he insisted.

"We're preparing for the King's Speech and all the further measures that we're going to need to take the country forward."