Starmer denies No10 put ‘pressure’ on civil service to appoint Mandelson despite him failing vetting
Addressing the Commons during PMQs on Wednesday, Starmer insisted 'full due process was followed' and 'no pressure' had been placed on civil servants to approve Mandelson's appointment.
The Prime Minister has insisted Number 10 did not place ‘pressure’ on the civil service to appoint Peter Mandelson UK ambassador to the US despite failing security vetting.
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Addressing the Commons during Prime Minister's Questions on Wednesday, Sir Keir Starmer insisted "full due process was followed" but added that the appointment of Mandelson was "a mistake, it was my mistake".
But Kemi Badenoch said she "didn’t know what planet" the PM was on and that someone with ‘known links to the Kremlin’ should never have been appointed to the role.
It comes as cabinet allies and Labour heavyweights were seen to increase pressure on Starmer after Sir Olly Robbins's was sacked last week over the Foreign Office's vetting of Mandelson and the decision to overlook the failure.
"What I set out to the House on Monday is that Foreign Office officials granted security clearance to Mandelson against the recommendation of UK Security Vetting," Starmer said addressing MPs.
"Yesterday, Olly Robbins was asked if he shared that decision with me, No 10, or any other ministers. He gave a clear answer - no.
"That puts to bed all the allegations levelled at me by those opposite."
Sir Olly Robbins had been the Foreign Office's most senior civil servant before his dismissal over Mandelson's vetting.
He told the influential committee on Tuesday that Downing Street's insistence that Mandelson be appointed to the top diplomatic posting was the reason that the Foreign Office overruled the UK Security Vetting's concerns to grant him clearance.
Starmer was also seen to quote Sir Olly Robbins comments to MPs in the Commons, statements the civil servant first made to the Foreign Affairs Committee on Tuesday.
Describing the evidence given yesterday by now-sacked Foreign Office head Olly Robbins, statements that saw the former civil servant admit there was an "atmosphere of pressure" from Downing Street, the PM said that Sir Olly told a panel of MPs: “I have the complete confidence that the discussion we had and the decisions made independent of any pressure."
The PM was also seen to defend his position, rebuking suggestions he 'lied' about his knowledge of the vetting clearance failure and reiterated that he had apologised to victims of paedophile financier Jeffrey Epstein for Mandelson's appointment.
Pressure was seen to mount on the PM during the weekly Commons exchange, with the Green Party MP Dr Ellie Chowns accusing the PM of taking a "dismissive and extraordinarily incurious attitude to vetting".
She also accused Starmer of "throwing a civil servant under the bus to save his own skin" and urged the PM to step down.
The exchange also saw Badenoch highlight that Peter Mandelson was given access to highly sensitive briefings before he'd received security clearance.
Richard Foord, the Liberal Democrat MP for Honiton and Sidmouth, said: "Leaders can delegate responsibility, but we cannot delegate accountability."
In response, Starmer said: "I have set out in terms what I wasn't told in relation to this process."
"A UKSV (United Kingdom Security Vetting) recommendation with a double red flag should have been brought to my attention.
"It was a serious error of judgement that it wasn't, and anyone in my position would have taken exactly the decision that I took in relation to the permanent secretary."
It comes after Liz Truss spoke with LBC's Tom Swarbrick following Robbins' sacking, hitting out at "completely dysfunctional" civil service procedures that led to the vetting blunder.
Truss ultimately laid blame at the door of Labour, telling LBC that "Sir Keir Starmer has been hoisted on his own petard".
"I don’t have any sympathy on a personal level," she told LBC, adding that she didn't believe top civil servant Sir Olly Robbins should have been sacked for his role in the Foreign Office's failure to disclose details of Mandelson's vetting failure.
Speaking to LBC's Tonight with Andrew Marr, Dame Emily Thornberry hinted she may call the Prime Minister's former Chief of Staff, Morgan McSweeney, to testify over the scandal.
McSweeney, who is a protege of Mandelson, resigned his role earlier this year while taking responsibility for appointing the ambassador despite his well-known history with Jeffrey Epstein.
Dame Emily told Andrew: "Well, I think that in the end, the criticism of Keir is that he was hands-off and he let other people do this."And I think that there was an abuse of power from those who were given that power."