No 10 ‘secretly pushed Olly Robbins to give ambassador job to disgraced Starmer aide’ | EUROtoday

Downing Street secretly pushed for one in every of Sir Keir Starmer’s key aides to be given a high diplomatic job, the previous high civil servant on the Foreign Office has advised MPs, in one other embarrassing revelation for the Labour authorities.

The prime minister’s ex-communications chief, Matthew Doyle, who was promoted to the House of Lords in January, was stripped of the Labour whip earlier this 12 months over his hyperlinks to a convicted paedophile.

But Sir Olly Robbins advised members of the Commons Foreign Affairs Committee on Tuesday that earlier than Lord Doyle was made a peer, there was stress from No 10 to search out him an ambassadorship.

Sir Olly mentioned he “felt quite uncomfortable” in regards to the thought of discovering such a task, which he mentioned could be “very hard” for the federal government to defend.

He additionally revealed that he “was under strict instruction not to discuss that with the then-foreign secretary, which was uncomfortable”.

The present international secretary, Yvette Cooper, mentioned she was “extremely concerned” at Sir Olly’s proof that he had been instructed to not inform her predecessor, David Lammy, and mentioned Lord Doyle wouldn’t have been an “appropriate” alternative.

At Foreign Office questions, Ms Cooper mentioned: “I am, of course, extremely concerned at any suggestion that the permanent secretary or permanent under-secretary of the Foreign Office would be told not to inform the foreign secretary. I can also confirm that the case that he raised, it would not have been an appropriate appointment.”

In February, Labour introduced that it had suspended Lord Doyle after it emerged he had helped to marketing campaign for his pal, convicted paedophile and former councillor Sean Morton.

The scandal emerged simply months after Peter Mandelson was sacked as ambassador to the US due to additional revelations about his long-term friendship with the convicted paedophile financier, Jeffrey Epstein.

In a bid to restrict the injury, sources in Downing Street briefed that No 10 was unaware that Lord Doyle had campaigned for Morton on the time of his appointment to the Lords – regardless of media stories about their ties earlier than he was sworn in as a Labour peer.

Lord Doyle, who labored for Sir Keir in opposition and entered Downing Street with him in 2024, campaigned for Morton when he ran as an unbiased in May 2017 – 4 months after Morton had appeared in court docket charged with possessing indecent pictures of youngsters. Morton later admitted the offending.

Sir Olly mentioned the proposal to search out an ambassadorship got here shortly after he took over working the Foreign Office in January 2025, at a time when high diplomats had been liable to dropping their jobs as a part of departmental restructuring.

Sir Olly mentioned there have been “several discussions initiated by No 10 with me” about probably “finding a head of mission opportunity for Matthew Doyle”.

The former senior civil servant mentioned he was not sure “who exactly was behind” the suggestion or “how serious it was”.

“I found it very hard to think how I would explain to the office what the credentials of Matthew were to be in an important head-of-mission role when I was in danger of making very senior, very experienced diplomats leave the office,” he mentioned.

Lord Mandelson was additionally requested in regards to the prospect of a task in Washington for Lord Doyle, Sir Olly instructed.

“I think subsequently, or maybe simultaneously, Mandelson was asked about whether there was a job that could be made available in the US network,” he advised MPs.

“And so I think the fact that No 10 was interested in potential diplomatic options for Doyle was probably a bit more broadly known than I realised at the time.”

The peer has since apologised for backing Morton earlier than the case towards him had concluded, saying he believed the paedophile’s assertions of innocence on the time.

Lord Doyle in an announcement on Tuesday mentioned he had by no means sought such a place, and was not conscious of anybody chatting with the Foreign Office about discovering a task for him.

Lord Doyle stepped down because the PM’s communications chief final March, however the subsequent row over his friendship with Morton led to recent questions on Sir Keir’s judgement in nominating him for a peerage.

Sir Keir mentioned the previous high aide “did not give a full account” of his ties to the paedophile councillor when he was elevated to the House of Lords.

Labour marketing campaign group Mainstream mentioned Tuesday’s revelations confirmed a “culture of centralisation and patronage” on the high of presidency was enabling “catastrophic mis-steps and undermining our relationship with the public”.

“An already difficult set of elections may now become even harder for the hardworking Labour members and candidates out canvassing tirelessly before May,” the group mentioned in an announcement.