‘Self-serving stuff’: anger remains high in Whitehall over Olly Robbins sacking

Keir Starmer’s decision to oust senior official may have knock-on effect for No 10’s relationship with civil service

Fury within Whitehall about the treatment of Olly Robbins remains white hot, several days on from Keir Starmer’s decision to sack the senior Foreign Office civil servant.

“It’s just total self-serving, narrow, selfish, political endgame stuff,” said one supporter of Robbins, who was dismissed for failing to tell the prime minister that the now disgraced former US ambassador Peter Mandelson had not passed UK security vetting.