Starmer-Mandelson newest: ‘It beggars belief’ I wasn’t informed of vetting failure, says PM as he pins blame on Foreign Office workers | EUROtoday

Prime minister Sir Keir Starmer has stated former Foreign Office chief Sir Olly Robbins didn’t inform him the advice of United Kingdom Security Vetting (UKSV) as a result of he didn’t consider he was allowed to.

Sir Keir informed MPs: “He (Sir Olly) should have provided this information to me, and he could have provided it to me.

“He’s giving evidence tomorrow, but I can say to the House that, when I spoke to him on Thursday, his view to me was that he couldn’t provide this information to me, because he wasn’t allowed to provide information to me.

“I don’t want to put words in his mouth, because it’s very important he gives his own evidence.”

The prime minister added: “What he (Sir Olly) said to me was, essentially, that he took the view that this process did not allow him to disclose to me the recommendation of UKSV.

“No doubt he’ll be asked further questions about that. That is the reason that he gave to me.”

Sir Keir earlier stated that he requested Sir Olly why he didn’t disclose the knowledge, and that he “did not accept his explanation”.

The Independent’s political reporter Athena Stavrou studies:

Lee Anderson has been requested to depart the Commons after he accused Sir Keir Starmer of mendacity about Peter Mandelson’s vetting course of.

The Reform UK MP stated: “The problem the prime minister has got is no one believes him…so does the prime minister agree with me he’s been lying.”

When requested by the Speaker to withdraw the accusation, he refused and added: “that man couldn’t lie straight in bed.”

The Independent’s political editor David Maddox studies:

Keir Starmer has now been requested a number of instances by MPs within the Commons together with Tory chief about The Independent’s entrance web page story on 12 September final yr that Peter Mandelson had failed safety vetting.

More damaging are the WhatsApp messages to the then director of communications in Downing Street Tim Allan elevating the problem on 11 September.

The cause this has been described by plenty of civil servants and senior politicians because the “smoking gun” is as a result of it’s at odds with the prime minister’s personal evaluation.

Sir Keir claimed that he, his ministers and Downing Street solely discovered in regards to the safety vetting failure final week. But The Independent knowledgeable Downing Street’s most senior safety official months earlier than.

It additionally raises critical questions on what the prime minister was informed in September by his then director of communications.

In regular circumstances these points are raised via the system and result in investigations in regards to the fact. Most crucially they’re raised with the prime minister and will have been a pink flag.

But it appears that evidently nothing occurred and the warnings have been ignored.

Sir Keir Starmer didn’t reply to solutions No 10 had been bounced into confirming Lord Peter Mandelson as US ambassador after the appointment was leaked.

This was raised by chairwoman of the Foreign Affairs Committee Dame Emily Thornberry, who stated: “Somebody, probably Peter Mandelson himself, leaked to the press his appointment as US ambassador, effectively bouncing the Government into confirming it.

“But then when the confirmation did come forward about his appointment, it did not make clear that it was subject to vetting in either the offer letter to Peter Mandelson or in the government’s press release.

“I am afraid to say, doesn’t this look like for certain members of the Prime Minister’s team, getting Peter Mandelson the job was a priority that overrode everything else, and that security considerations were very much second order?”

In his response, the prime minister repeated that he wouldn’t have made the appointment had he been informed that he failed safety vetting.

He added: “A deliberate decision was taken to withhold that material. This was not a lack of asking. This wasn’t an oversight. It was a decision … taken not to share that information on repeated occasions.”

A second debate on Lord Peter Mandelson’s appointment as US ambassador could possibly be held tomorrow, it has been reported.

Sky News has stated it believes Tory get together chief Kemi Badenoch will apply for an emergency debate on the scandal to be held on Tuesday, and that the controversy is prone to be granted.

The Independent’s Whitehall editor Kate Devlin studies:

Sir Keir has informed MPs there had been a “deliberate decision”, that was taken on “repeated occasions”, to not inform him about Lord Peter Mandelson’s failure to move safety vetting.

“A deliberate decision was taken to withhold that material,” he informed MPs, “this was not a lack of asking. This wasn’t an oversight. It was a decision.”

That resolution was taken by officers within the Foreign Office, he informed MPs, who might have revealed the failure plenty of instances earlier than final week, when the PM says that he discovered.

Conservative chief Kemi Badenoch claimed it’s “extraordinary and unprecedented” for Lord Peter Mandelson to be appointed US ambassador earlier than his safety clearance was granted, opposite to what the prime minister stated.

Mrs Badenoch stated: “We know that the prime minister announced the appointment before vetting was complete, an extraordinary and unprecedented step for the role of US ambassador.

“The prime minister says that it was usual for this because it was a political appointment.

“So I will remind him and the rest of the Labour front bench who were heckling that Peter Mandelson was a politician who had been sacked twice from government for lying. That meant he should have gone through the full security process.”

Responding, Sir Keir Starmer stated: “She asked me about developed vetting security clearance after the appointment. That wasn’t me saying that, I read out the evidence of the former permanent secretary about that, and the former cabinet secretary in relation to that.

“And I think the quotes that I’ve given to the House are clear enough in relation to that.”

The Independent’s political reporter Athena Stavrou studies:

Sir Keir Starmer has been informed his “enormous risk” in appointing Peter Mandelson has “blown up in his face”, as he faces calls to resign within the Commons.

Liberal Democrat chief Ed Davey identified that the prime minister appointed Mandelson regardless of having been warned about his relationship with Jeffrey Epstein.

“We all know the truth, Mr Speaker, the PM knew that appointing Mandelson was an enormous risk,” he stated.

“He decided it was a risk worth taking. A catastrophic error in judgement. And now it has blown up in his face the only decent thing to do is to take responsibility.”