Revealed: Mandelson failed vetting but Foreign Office overruled decision

[muriel_volestrangler]

2. The head Foreign Office civil servant who overruled it in 2025 has been sacked; 2 more knew back in March

of this year, but didn't tell their boss, the PM (so it's said).

Starmer was left in dark about Mandelson’s vetting by two other top civil servants

Olly Robbins was forced out of his job as permanent secretary of the Foreign Office on Thursday after it was revealed his department granted Mandelson developed vetting clearance against the advice of the relevant agency.

Now the Guardian can reveal that two other top civil servants, including the cabinet secretary, Antonia Romeo, failed to immediately notify him when they discovered that UK Security Vetting (UKSV) had advised that Mandelson should be denied clearance.

The Cabinet Office maintains that there was no undue delay because the civil servants were engaged in a process of “expedited checks” aimed at informing the prime minister as quickly as possible.

Downing Street has said Starmer did not find out about the vetting failure, which occurred in January 2025, until Tuesday this week. However, the Guardian has established that both Romeo, the government’s most senior civil servant, and Catherine Little, the Cabinet Office’s permanent secretary, have been aware since March.

https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2026/apr/17/keir-starmer-kept-in-dark-peter-mandelson-vetting-two-top-civil-servants

This looks like a concerted effort to keep Starmer "clean" by not telling him the damning bits, so that he can say in public "everything's above board" and then have a fall-back position if the crap becomes known to the world.