Sir Olly Robbins on Tuesday presented the other side of the story told by Sir Keir Starmer on Monday. The former top civil servant in the Foreign Office portrayed his decision to grant Peter Mandelson security clearance for the role of ambassador to the United States as a marginal one, in a “borderline” case, under “pressure” from the prime minister’s office.
In essence, though, he and the prime minister were in agreement on the facts: Sir Olly did not tell the prime minister, or any minister, that the vetting service had been “leaning towards recommending that clearance be denied”.
