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Naming Mandelson as ambassador before vetting was mistake, minister says

Mandelson was publicly named as ambassador before vetting had happened, particularly when many controversies about

Keir Starmer says it is unforgivable he was not told Mandelson failed vetting

Mandelson](https://www.theguardian.com/politics/peter-mandelson) had failed his security vetting before being appointed as ambassador to Washington. The prime minister said he was “furious” about what had happened

Starmer could have been told about Mandelson’s vetting failure, claims No 10 with release of briefing paper – UK politics live

happens in the Commons today. Since the revelations in the Guardian last week about [Peter Mandelson](https://www.theguardian.com/politics/peter-mandelson) in effect failing security vetting for his appointment as ambassador

'Staggering' I was not told Mandelson failed vetting, says PM

happen are Labour MPs." [Lord Mandelson](https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c3edlg5w855o) was announced as the UK's ambassador to the US in December 2024, before in-depth vetting

Monday briefing: How is it possible the prime minister didn’t know about Mandelson’s vetting failure?

ambassador, [Peter Mandelson](https://www.theguardian.com/politics/peter-mandelson) failed his UK security vetting – and then that decision was overruled by officials at the Foreign Office – unbeknownst, allegedly, to the prime minister or other members of the cabinet

Is The Strait Of Hormuz Actually Open (Or Shut) Right Now?

Mandelson as US ambassador had he known he failed security vetting. Elsewhere, negotiations continue between the US and Iran over the Strait of Hormuz. But is it actually currently open or closed? Has the ceasefire

Five questions awaiting Starmer as he faces Commons over Mandelson scandal

Mandelson was appointed as US ambassador in December 2024. The prime minister said he was "staggered" to find out last week that civil servants in the Foreign Office withheld information from him about red flags

Officials deliberately withheld Mandelson vetting result from me, Starmer says

vetting before he was announced as ambassador. An official document published last month showed Lord Case, the UK's top civil servant at the time, wrote to Sir Keir a month before Lord Mandelson

Mandelson saga is a messy palaver - and the questions continue to swirl

vetting process is. And yet privately from many others there is a sense that the current public accounts of what happened are literally incredible. Why was the prime minister so apparently lacking in curiosity about

Starmer would have blocked Mandelson role over vetting failure, says Lammy

ambassador to Washington had he known he failed [security vetting](https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2026/apr/17/what-happens-security-vetting-peter-mandelson), David Lammy has said, as he attempted to shore up the prime minister amid damaging fallout from the row. In his first

Key points from Starmer's Mandelson statement

ambassador to the US. It comes after it emerged the peer was given security clearance for the role in January 2025, against the recommendation of officials who vetted him. He formally took up the role

Five unanswered questions on Keir Starmer’s Mandelson debacle

vetting. Did No 10 check this? Its version is that officials “repeatedly asked for the facts of the case” but were simply not told. --- ## Will Starmer have all the answers next week? This remains uncertain

Pressure on Starmer amid Mandelson revelations as Foreign Office official forced out – UK politics live

happen in the first place. > > That’s why in my role in the Cabinet Office, immediately last night, I suspended the rights for these organisations to make these judgments. > > I’ve asked for an urgent

Mandelson scandal is biggest crisis for diplomatic service in decades, says ex-Foreign Office chief

ambassador the US. Robbins is said to have known about Mandelson’s failure to pass the UK Security Vetting (UKSV) assessment, but that he did not forward that information on to ministers. Starmer claims

Starmer was kept in dark about Mandelson’s vetting by two top civil servants

ambassador to Washington. The document identified highly sensitive concerns UKSV had about Mandelson and recommended, in conclusion, that he should not be given security clearance. It was that recommendation that was overruled by the Foreign

Starmer accuses Robbins of obstructing truth about Mandelson vetting

ambassador – but was ignored. Robbins overturned the United Kingdom Security Vetting (UKVS) decision to fail Mandelson just 24 hours later, giving little time for any potential mitigations to be put in place. The Foreign Office

Olly Robbins and Mandelson’s vetting: what did he do, why – and who knew?

ambassador to the US two months earlier, after the disclosure of Jeffrey Epstein’s emails. MPs on the cross-party foreign affairs select committee were grilling the most senior civil servants involved in Mandelson

How safe is Starmer’s premiership after his Mandelson vetting statement to MPs?

ambassador would not have been committed. But [what he did not deliver](https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2026/apr/20/what-starmer-said-and-didnt-say-in-the-commons-about-the-mandelson-saga) was any admission that he had inadvertently misled the House of Commons. That seemed too painful an admission for Starmer

Starmer faces Commons showdown over Mandelson vetting scandal

ambassador without the Foreign Office revealing it had overruled the decision to fail his vetting. The scandal, [first revealed by the Guardian last week](https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2026/apr/16/revealed-mandelson-failed-vetting-but-foreign-office-overruled-decision), has already led to the sacking