How Olly Robbins’ knightly charm glossed over burning questions on Mandelson vetting

Mandelson received two ‘clearance denied’ red ticks yet top Foreign Office civil servant says he did not have access to file – which he later read

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The verdict on Olly Robbins’ parliamentary testimony, among fellow knights of the civil service realm at least, was unanimous. Lord Sedwill, a former Cabinet secretary, called on the prime minister to “retract his accusations against Olly Robbins and reinstate him”.

Simon McDonald, who once held Robbins’ job as top civil servant in the Foreign Office, said if Keir Starmer had only waited to hear his evidence to the foreign affairs select committee he would never have sacked him.