The row over Lord Mandelson’s vetting has re-ignited questions among Labour MPs about Sir Keir’s judgement and leadership.
Speaking to GB News, Labour MP Jonathan Brash, said: “Ultimately, we are in a situation where I don’t think anyone reasonably expects the prime minister to lead the party into the next election and I think we have to refocus this government on the priorities of the British people.”
Defending his actions at Prime Minister’s Questions, Sir Keir said that if the Foreign Office had told him about the vetting concerns “Mandelson would not have been committed to post.”
Conservative leader Kemi Badenoch said Sir Olly had been “sacked for the prime minister’s own failings” and that his own MPs “know that is not fair”.
Some former senior civil servants have expressed concern that Sir Olly’s sacking will damage relations between ministers and the civil service.
Lord Butler, who led the service between 1988 and 1998, told the BBC’s World at One, he thought it had done “a great deal of harm”.
“Things work better, obviously, when politicians and civil servants work together harmoniously with mutual respect in the national interest… this is an episode which will make this more difficult.”
Asked about the sacking, former Prime Minister Rishi Sunak told BBC Newsnight: “This situation is going to really damage trust between officials and ministers and I think that means that everything becomes slower and harder.
“If there’s a breakdown of trust between the political teams and the civil service teams that just makes everything harder and slower which is again damaging to our ability to get things done.”