Mandelson saga 'does not reflect well on Starmer', former MI6 chief tells LBC

Speaking to LBC's Drive with Tom Swarbrick, Sir Richard Dearlove, the man once known as "C", said that Peter Mandelson's career "reeks of a lack of integrity".

He also cast doubt on Sir Keir's explanation that he did not know that the former US Ambassador had been recommended not to be given security clearance before his appointment.

Sir Richard told Tom: "Whatever angle you look at this issue from, it's very bad for the Prime Minister.

"Let's start with Mandelson himself. Did anyone ever think he could pass a DV (Developed Vetting) , or be recommended for a DV by the vetters? The whole of his career reeks of a lack of integrity."

On Mandelson, who was once dubbed the "Prince of Darkness", Sir Richard added: "I'm not questioning his ability as a political fixer or his position as a talisman for New Labour, but one could have anticipated in advance that there would be probable advice from a vetting department not to grant him a certificate."

Moving on to the decision to appoint Lord Mandelson in the first place, the former spook said: "Mandelson as the choice to be Ambassador right from the word go was flawed - and now we've got the whole issue of the process.

"I honestly cannot believe that the Permanent Undersecretary in the Foreign Office didn't ring up his minister, who he sees every day, and say, I think it was David Lammy at the time and say: 'Look, we have a problem. The vetters have advised...he shouldn't be granted a DV certificate.'"

Sir Richard's intervention came shortly before a readout of a meeting involving the Prime Minister and two senior civil servants appeared to show Sir Keir was only told about Mandelson's vetting failure on Tuesday.

The email published by No.10 on Friday was sent by the Prime Minister's Principal Private Secretary, Dan York-Smith, following the meeting on Tuesday.

The meeting is understood to have involved the Cabinet Secretary, Dame Antonia Romeo, and the Cabinet Office's permanent secretary, Catherine Little.

A report in the Guardian has claimed that Ms Romeo and Ms Little were aware of the recommendation to not clear Mandelson as early as March.

The Cabinet Office has hit back at the reports, claiming the delay between them learning about the vetting issues and informing the Prime Minister was due to "expedited checks" being undertaken.

The document says that Ms Little learned of the recommendation that then-Lord Mandelson should not be granted Developed Vetting (DV) when reviewing his file as part of the Government’s response to Parliament's order to release the files related to his appointment.