MPs grill former Foreign Office boss Olly Robbins for over two hours
- Patriot News UK Newsdesk
- Apr 21
- 2 min read
21st April 2026
Sir Olly Robbins sat through an intense two and a half hours of grilling by the Foreign Affairs Select Committee over his handling of the Lord Peter Mandelson appointment.
The former Foreign Office mandarin was thrown into the spotlight after he became Sir Keir Starmer’s fall guy after it was revealed Lord Mandelson did not clear developed vetting for his role as the UK’s ambassador to the US - the Prime Minister claims he was only made aware of this last Tuesday.
Therefore, Sir Keir sacked Sir Olly, claiming that the security vetting outcome was “information that [he] should have had”, vowing that he did not mislead Parliament over the appointment.
Sir Olly illustrated an “atmosphere of constant chasing” over the appointment, where the Foreign Office was under significant pressure to rubber-stamp the post.
Emily Thornberry, chair of the Foreign Affairs Select Committee, pressed the ex-Foreign Office boss to provide details on how No10 was exerting said pressure and the impact that had on the civil service’s ability to do their job.
Whilst Sir Olly dug his heels in, saying he would not name names, he did say it was between “private office to private office”, indicating No10 was responsible for the “constant pressure”.
Despite this, he said that he and his team followed due process with the appointment, sharing he had “no regrets” about his “brilliant people” and the judgement to which they came.
Sir Olly said it was a “red herring” to focus on who was told about the outcome of the vetting findings.
He argued the Prime Minister was already aware of Lord Mandelson’s various red flags as this would have been highlighted in the due diligence process.
The ex-Mandarin said he “regretted” the due diligence report on the now-disgraced peer “did not colour the Prime Minister’s judgement” of his unsuitability for the role as UK ambassador to the US.
He emphasised that No10 clearly were not interested in any civil service processes around political appointments, describing it as a “dismissive approach”.
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