Top Foreign Office official ‘felt pressure’ for ‘rapid outcome’ on Mandelson vetting

A top Foreign Office security official who played a key role in the granting of Peter Mandelson’s vetting clearance “felt pressure to deliver a rapid outcome” because of contacts from Downing Street, MPs have been told.

In testimony relayed to parliament via the Foreign Office (FCDO), Ian Collard said he had not seen the assessment summary produced by the vetting agency when he gave an oral briefing to Olly Robbins, the department’s former permanent secretary. Instead, Collard had received an oral briefing from a member of the FCDO’s personnel security team.

Robbins was dismissed from his position by Keir Starmer 11 days ago after the Guardian revealed the FCDO gave Mandelson “developed vetting” clearance despite United Kingdom Security Vetting (UKSV) recommending it not be granted in late January 2025. The clearance was necessary for Mandelson to take up his announced role as British ambassador to Washington.

Collard has claimed that it was only after Mandelson was removed from his post in September 2025 that he saw the UKSV assessment summary. He said the summary document featured tickboxes noting Mandelson was a “high concern” and vetting officers recommended “clearance denied”, as well as a statement from UKSV that he was a “very borderline case”.

Collard’s answers to questions from MPs on the foreign affairs committee, published on Monday evening, add a new name to the list of officials who were aware Mandelson had not been recommended for clearance by UKSV. He said, before speaking to Robbins, he discussed it with his line manager, the chief operating officer in the FCDO, who was then Corin Robertson. Robertson is now the British ambassador to Japan.

The question of whether to grant Mandelson clearance, Collard said, was the only time he had spoken with Robbins or his predecessors as permanent secretary about a specific decision to grant vetting.

The FCDO described the decision to go against the recommendations made by UKSV as “unusual but not exceptional”, but this includes instances where the department has decided to block security clearance despite UKSV concluding it would be appropriate.

While Collard said he “felt pressure” to rapidly conclude Mandelson’s vetting process, he said that this did not affect the “professional judgment that was reached by himself” or members of the personnel security team he led.

But it is this, among many remarkable claims in his account, that will probably attract the most attention. Since Robbins gave oral testimony to the foreign affairs committee last week, accounts have varied between the Foreign Office and Downing Street as to whether there had been pressure on the department to get Mandelson in post as soon as possible.