Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office permanent under-secretary Sir Olly Robbins has been summoned to give evidence before MPs following the sacking of Peter Mandelson as the UK’s ambassador to the United States.
Members of parliament’s Foreign Affairs Committee said the government had urgent questions to answer over the vetting processes that cleared Labour Party grandee Lord Mandelson to take on the top diplomatic role in February.
Mandelson was dismissed from his post by prime minister Keir Starmer last week, after emails emerged showing that the peer’s friendship with – and support for – convicted paedophile Jeffrey Epstein continued much longer than had been previously thought.
Dame Emily Thornberry, chair of the Foreign Affairs Committee, said yesterday that in addition to Robbins, MPs also want to question the Cabinet Office’s head of ethics and propriety about the vetting that underpinned Mandelson’s appointment.
“The dismissal of Lord Mandelson from the post of UK ambassador to the US raises serious questions about the integrity of our vetting and security processes,” she said.
“Were the proper processes followed and if yes, why was a high-risk appointment allowed to go ahead?
“This week will see President Trump undertake a second state visit to the UK – a significant diplomatic event that we are now navigating without an ambassador. The public deserve answers as to why we have been left in this difficult position.
“It is in the public interest for the FCDO and Cabinet Office to appear in front of our committee urgently.”
In a letter to newly appointed foreign secretary Yvette Cooper on 12 September, Thornberry said the revelations about Mandelson’s ongoing support for Epstein were “shocking”. She said suggestions made by a number of media outlets that security concerns related to Mandelson’s appointment as US ambassador had been overlooked – possibly at the behest of “actors outside of the Foreign Office” – were “potentially very serious, with implications far beyond newspaper gossip”.
Thornberry posed a number of detailed questions to Cooper, including the nature of any security concerns that had emerged in the vetting process, and what FCDO’s response had been.
Mandelson’s selection as US ambassador was announced in December, but he did not take up the post until 10 February.
Thornberry asked whether the vetting process for Mandelson had commenced before he was named as No.10’s pick for the Washington, DC job. She also asked whether then-foreign secretary David Lammy had believed there was sufficient time for “full, thorough vetting” to be conducted before Mandelson started in his new role.
Robbins was not in post as FCDO perm sec when Mandelson’s appointment was announced. However, he did take the helm at King Charles Street before Mandelson started work in Washington, DC.
Darren Tierney was director general of the Cabinet Office’s Propriety and Constitution Group at the time. Last month, Tierney was appointed as permanent secretary at the Office for National Statistics.
Ellen Atkinson is acting head of the Propriety and Constitution Group.
This story was updated at 16:40 on 16 September 2025 to include additional information from the Cabinet Office