Renewed anger at government over Mandelson’s appointmentpublished at 06:50 BST
06:50 BST
Image source, PA Media
The top civil servant in the Foreign Office, Olly Robbins, is leaving his role following the revelation that his department didn’t tell the prime minister that Lord Mandelson failed security vetting.
Mandelson took up the role of UK ambassador to the US in February 2025, after his appointment was announced in December.
Seven months later, Mandelson was sacked over ties to convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein, and the government has been facing scrutiny over the appointment ever since.
Kei Starmer previously told parliament that “due process” was followed, and the government says he didn’t know Mandelson had failed his vetting until this week. Despite this, there’s renewed anger at Starmer and No 10 over the appointment – including calls for him to resign from the Tories, Lib Dems and Green Party.
We’re expecting to hear from multiple MPs over the next few hours, including opposition leader Kemi Badenoch. We’ll bring you all that, plus political analysis, right here in this page.