Mandelson’s US envoy approval faced political push: Ex-official

The ex-civil servant behind the decision to approve Peter Mandelson’s appointment as British ambassador to Washington says he felt political pressure to rush through the appointment despite security concerns.

Olly Robbins, former head of the Foreign Office, said those concerns did not relate to Mandelson’s relationship with the sex offender Jeffrey Epstein.

He declined to say when questioned by lawmakers what led the government’s vetting agency to flag Mandelson as a potential security risk.

Robbins said the vetting agency considered Mandelson a “borderline case” and was “leaning toward recommending against” giving him security clearance. 

The Foreign Office decided to clear him anyway. Robbins was fired by Prime Minister Keir Starmer last week over the decision.

Starmer is facing questions about his own judgment, and calls to resign, over the appointment.

Robbins told the House of Commons Foreign Affairs Committee on Tuesday that there was an “atmosphere of pressure” coming from Starmer’s office.

He said there was “a very, very strong expectation” that Mandelson “needed to be in post and in America as quickly as possible.”

Robbins said there was “a generally dismissive attitude” to the security vetting in January 2025, before Mandelson went to Washington.

Starmer acknowledged on Monday that he made the wrong judgment when he picked Mandelson for the job.

But he said he would have withdrawn the appointment if he’d known about the security vetting.

Starmer has placed blame squarely on Foreign Office officials, who he said failed to tell him about the security concerns and approved Mandelson’s appointment despite them.

He called it “frankly staggering” that officials didn’t tell him about the failed vetting, which took place in January 2025. Starmer says he only found out last week.

Starmer fired Mandelson in September, nine months into the job, when new details emerged about his friendship with Epstein, a convicted sex offender who died in prison in 2019.

He has ordered a review into any security concerns arising from Mandelson’s access to sensitive information while ambassador.

Critics say the Mandelson appointment is more evidence of bad judgment by a prime minister who has made repeated missteps since he led Labour to a landslide election victory in July 2024.

He picked Mandelson as ambassador despite being warned by his staff that Mandelson’s friendship with Epstein exposed the Government to “reputational risk.” Mandelson’s business links to Russia and China also set off alarm bells.

But his expertise as a former European Union trade chief and contacts among global elites were considered assets in dealing with U.S. President Donald Trump’s administration. The scandal has caused gloom among lawmakers in Starmer’s center-left Labour Party, already anxious about its dire poll ratings.

Starmer already defused one potential crisis in February, when some Labour lawmakers urged him to resign over the Mandelson appointment.

Mandelson is under police investigation for suspected misconduct in public office after a trove of Epstein-related documents released by the US Department of Justice in January included emails suggesting Mandelson had passed on sensitive — and potentially market-moving Government information to Epstein in 2009, after the global financial crisis.

British police launched a criminal probe and arrested Mandelson in February.

Mandelson has previously denied wrongdoing and hasn’t been charged. He does not face allegations of sexual misconduct.