United Kingdom

Oliver Robbins reveals Starmer's pressure on Mandelson's appointment

Former official reveals how political pressure forced security checks

by Nicol Degli Innocenti

21 April 2026

Caso Mandelson, Olly Robbins: "Pressioni per accelerare nomina"

3' min read

Translated by AI

Versione italiana

3' min read

Translated by AI

Versione italiana

LONDON - Following Keir Starmer's junket in Parliament yesterday, Sir Oliver Robbins gave his side of the story on the Mandelson affair today. Testifying live on television to Parliament's Foreign Affairs Committee, the former senior British Foreign Office official explained the circumstances under which the former Labour minister had been given the green light for appointment as ambassador to Washington despite the national security risks highlighted by the background checks.

The testimony

Robbins described the 'constant pressure' from Downing Street to speed up procedures, with almost daily phone calls to the Foreign Office, and the 'dismissive attitude' towards security checks, which were considered non-essential and which the Foreign Office had had to insist on doing.

Caso Mandelson, Olly Robbins: "Pressioni per accelerare nomina"

The former official recalled the highly unusual circumstances of Mandelson's appointment: first, the prime minister had announced the appointment in December 2024, without waiting for the outcome of security checks and thus ignoring the advice of his own chief of staff. Then King Charles III had approved the appointment and finally the US administration had given its blessing. Not only that, Mandelson had already been given access to the Foreign Office and classified documents and information.

At that point, given Starmer's determination to speed things up by ignoring normal procedures, and given that Mandelson's arrival in Washington had already been publicly announced, Robbins said that if he blocked the appointment it would cause 'a serious diplomatic incident' with serious repercussions for UK-US relations. "It would have been a problem for the government and the country," he said.

The decision to "mitigate risks"

Therefore, Robbins explained that he had used the decision-making power granted to him by deciding to 'mitigate the risks' posed by Mandelson instead of rejecting his appointment. He also emphasised that, contrary to what has been written in recent days, UK Security Vetting had not come out strongly against Mandelson's appointment but had expressed reservations and called his 'a borderline case'. The vetting officers merely made a 'recommendation' and it was up to the chief Foreign Office official to decide how to proceed.

Last week, as soon as the Guardian had revealed that Mandelson had been 'flunked', Starmer had fired Robbins, claiming that he no longer trusted an official who had not revealed the full picture to him. Today, Robbins insisted that existing rules, and in particular the confidentiality of security checks, prevented him from revealing the details of the case to the premier or even the foreign minister.

Robbins therefore did not deny Starmer, who said he was "furious" at not having been informed, but calmly explained that the circumstances of the specific case and the rules of the Foreign Office had given him no other choice.

Caso Epstein, rimosso l'ambasciatore britannico negli Usa

"The risks involved in Mandelson's appointment were known and the prime minister knew them well," Robbins said. Starmer on Monday again apologised for making the wrong choice, but did not explain why he was so insistent on choosing such a controversial figure for such an important post and why he had gone out of his way to speed up the process while ignoring the warnings of numerous Civil Service experts.

Starmer ai Comuni: "Non avrei dovuto nominare Mandelson"

The UK Vetting Service's reservations

Robbins confirmed today that the UK Vetting Service's concerns were not about Mandelson's dealings with paedophile Jeffrey Epstein, which later led to his dismissal by Starmer. The concerns related to the former minister's friendships with Russian oligarchs, his position as a director for Sistema, a Russian company linked to the Kremlin, and the fact that Global Counsel, the consultancy he founded, had Chinese companies close to the Beijing regime as clients.

In order to protect both the reputation of Mandelson and of the government, Robbins said he had established measures to limit the risks (e.g. the sale of Global Counsel shares). A compromise to safeguard national security while obeying the clear will of the PM.