Sir Keir Starmer has sacked the top civil servant at the Foreign Office after it emerged Lord Mandelson was appointed US ambassador despite having failed security vetting.
The revelation has led to Starmer being accused of misleading parliament by the Conservatives after he had repeatedly claimed “due process had been followed” and that Mandelson had been cleared.
The Times reports officers carrying out the vetting process recommended Mandelson should not be given the job, but were overruled by officials in the Foreign Office.
Last night, Starmer sacked Sir Oliver Robbins, the top civil servant in the Foreign Office, with No.10 claiming it had not been Mandelson had failed security vetting before it was overturned.
Robbins had been in the Foreign Office role for just three weeks when the decision was made to overturn the vetting result at the beginning of last year.
Starmer must now face ministers in the Commons on Monday to explain how the security vetting decision was overturned.