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

The prime minister says ministers were left in the dark, but friends of the former top civil servant suggest it was a case of politicians looking the other way

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Fiddling with his reading glasses, the then cabinet secretary, Sir Chris Wormald – sitting alongside the most senior civil servant in the Foreign Office, Sir Olly Robbins – suddenly appeared a little tense.

The bonhomie evident in earlier answers had quite disappeared.