Former Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office permanent secretary Sir Philip Barton has told MPs that the only pressure exerted on the department to appoint Peter Mandelson as ambassador to Washington DC related to the “challenging timescale”.
His comments came in evidence to parliament’s Foreign Affairs Committee this morning, in which MPs were probing fallout from the appointment which cost Sir Olly Robbins, Barton’s successor at FCDO, his job earlier this month. Mandelson was sacked from his ambassador role in September last year after further details of his relationship with convicted paedophile Jeffrey Epstein emerged.
Barton was FCDO perm sec when Mandelson’s appointment as ambassador was announced in December 2024. Robbins was perm sec in late January 2025, when the Labour Party grandee was granted developed-vetting status, against the recommendations of UK Security Vetting.
Today, Barton told MPs he had been informed of PM Keir Starmer’s plans to appoint Mandelson as the UK’s ambassador to Washington DC on 15 December 2024.
“At no point did anyone ask me, consult me,” he said about the political appointment. “I was presented with a decision and asked to get on with it. There was no space for dialogue.”
Starmer is facing questions about the pressure No.10 exerted on officials to progress Mandelson’s appointment, which was publicly announced before he had been granted developed-vetting status.
Barton told MPs that on 18 December 2024 he had been informed that Downing Street wanted Mandelson in-post in Washington by 20 January 2025, for the inauguration of Donald Trump. He described the request as a “very compressed timescale”, and one that was ultimately not met.
“That is what creates the pressure,” Barton said. “No-one in the FCDO working on this could have been in any doubt of the urgency and importance that No.10 attached to Mandelson being in DC in very short order.”
He said that he was unaware of any pressure from the top of government related to the “substance” of Mandelson’s developed-vetting clearance. But acknowledged that there “absolutely” was pressure to secure got things done “as quickly as possible”.
Barton referred to evidence the FCDO submitted to the committee yesterday which said that Ian Collard, then the department’s director of estates, security and network, “felt pressure to deliver a rapid outcome to the vetting clearance procedure” but did not believe the pressure “influenced the professional judgement that was reached by himself or his team”.
Mandelson was granted developed-vetting status against the recommendation of UKSV on 29 January 2025 – something that only emerged earlier this month, and a situation desribed as “incredible” by the PM.
This morning, Barton was asked whether he could envisage a situation in which Mandelson was denied developed vetting by FCDO.
“It’s not an impossibility”, he replied. “But it would have been a crisis if we got to the point where he had no vetting clearance. That would have been a crisis self-evidently – a publicly announced political appointment of the next ambassador to Washington not being able to go. That would have been a big problem.”
He also said there was “no contingency plan in place” for a scenario in which Mandelson failed to secure developed-vetting status.
Barton told MPs he had not seen the Cabinet Office due diligence report on Mandelson produced before his appointment as ambassador was announced – but only made public following February’s “Humble Address” by MPs.
That set of papers included comments by national security adviser Jonathan Powell, made in the wake of Mandelson’s sacking. According to the document, Powell described Mandelson’s appointment as having been “unusual” and "weirdly rushed”. It states that he recalls Barton “also had reservations around the appointment”.
Today, Barton said his reservations had been “along the lines” of Mandelson’s known connection to Epstein “causing an issue subsequently”.
“Obviously, I didn’t know what was actually going to happen,” he said. “Because Epstein was such a toxic, hot potato subject in US politics itself, including in the election campaign. That is what I recall thinking at the time.”
Damaged civil service relations
Several high-ranking former senior civil servants have spoken out following Olly Robbins’ sacking over the developed-vetting clearance granted to Mandelson.
Barton was asked for his estimation of how the episode has affected relations between ministers and civil servants.
“The British system of government works best when civil servants and ministers, including at the highest level, work together effectively to deliver the elected government of the day’s programme, but respecting that they’ve got slightly different jobs and roles and responsibilities,” he said. “Whenever that isn’t happening, and isn’t happening effectively, then you’re not able to deliver as well.”
Barton said there is a need for “load-bearing relationships” between ministers and officials at the most senior levels so that government works as a team.
“I do think there’s a challenge now, and I think it’s incumbent on all of us – including people no-longer in government who could perhaps help from the sidelines – to try and get back to a situation where the government of the day and the civil service of the day have trusting relationships, understanding they’ve both got different pressures on them,” he said.
Barton refused to agree with the suggestion from Foreign Affairs Committee member and former culture secretary Sir John Whittingdale that the trusting relationship between ministers and civil servants has broken down.
“I don’t like black-and-white terminology like ‘broken down’,” Barton said. “I do think, self-evidently, there are now challenges, at least for some people, in the relationships.”
‘It wasn’t my choice to leave FCDO’
At the start of today’s session, Barton was asked about his departure from the FCDO in January last year, which had been announced in November 2024. His last day in post was 19 January 2025.
He told MPs that had left post eight months earlier than expected at the request of then-foreign secretary David Lammy.
“It wasn’t my choice to leave at that point,” he said. “I would have preferred to see out my tenure. But after what I think was a very successful transition to the Labour team in the FCDO, David Lammy told me he wanted to make a change and that he wanted somebody who would lead the department over the years ahead and carry out a major transformation programme. And so I agreed to leave.”
FCDO’s 2024-25 annual report and accounts revealed that Barton received a £262,185 voluntary exit payment for departing from his role early.