Another civil servant throws Starmer under the bus: Officials didn’t think Mandelson needed to be vetted and pushed Foreign Office to wave appointment through, says mandarin

The former head of the Foreign Office today insisted officials did suggest Peter Mandelson should be waved through security checks.

Philip Barton told MPs that the Cabinet Office initially argued as a peer the New Labour architect was a ‘fit and proper person’ and did not need to go through ‘developed vetting’.

Sir Philip also revealed that he was not consulted about Mandelson’s appointment as US ambassador in advance, before being informed the PM had ‘accepted the risks and decided to proceed’.

He said there was ‘pressure’ from the centre of Government to push the process through so that Mandelson could be in Washington within a month. Sir Philip said that was an ‘ambitious timetable’.    

The evidence appears to contradict suggestions from the Cabinet Office that it had insisted on DV for the peer. 

It came as Keir Starmer goes all-out to save his skin today as he faces a Commons showdown that could decide his fate.

Downing Street is using every lever at its disposal to stop Labour MPs rebelling in a vote on whether the PM misled the House on the Mandelson scandal.

Whips have been warning that those who fail to back Sir Keir could be kicked out of the party, with ministers ringing round to woo waverers.

In another sign of how seriously No10 is taking the threat, Gordon Brown has been wheeled out to condemn the idea of referring Sir Keir to the privileges committee.

However, even before the crunch Commons debate begins at lunchtime the premier is facing more moments of extreme peril.

After Sir Philip’s appearance this morning, Sir Keir’s former chief of staff Morgan McSweeney will be grilled by the MPs – his first significant public appearance since the furore erupted.

Defeat for the PM would trigger a formal inquiry by the privileges committee, throwing his floundering government deeper into a tailspin.

Sir Philip Barton told the committee: ‘As we were taking forward the practical steps required, the Cabinet Office initially said that as Mandelson was to use the technical phrase from the guidance a ”fit and proper person”, as a member of the House and Lords, he did not require developed vetting.

‘I mean, to be honest with you, I thought that was odd and insufficient. I had been deputy ambassador in Washington, and therefore occasionally charge-d’affaires. I knew very well to do the job effectively, you have to be party to some of the deepest secrets that the UK Government holds.

‘But I also recognise that the situation was unusual, and I therefore asked for advice, although it was pretty clear in my mind from the FCDO security team. They came back to me after discussions with the Cabinet Office, and said that their advice was that he should have DV, and I absolutely agreed with that.’

Sir Philip said by that time the Cabinet Office had also ‘reflected’ and agreed that DV was needed. 

Sir Philip said he only learned the Government wanted to appoint Lord Mandelson to the post on December 15, 2024.

Sir Keir had been ‘made aware of the risks, and had accepted those risks and decided to proceed’, Sir Philip added.

The intervention came with a major arm-twisting operation in full effect at Westminster, with a three-line whip in place for Labour MPs to support the Government.

That is in stark contrast to when Sir Keir called a similar vote against Boris Johnson over Partygate. At that point he argued that MPs should be free to follow their own consciences. 

Writing in the Daily Mail today, Kemi Badenoch said MPs of all stripes have a duty to hold Sir Keir to account for treating Parliament with ‘contempt’.

She told Labour backbenchers they are ‘not in the Commons simply to protect the PM from embarrassment’.

‘Labour MPs now face a test of their own,’ the Tory leader said.

‘They can circle the wagons, obey the Whips and tell themselves this is just politics. Or they can remember they are MPs before they are members of the Labour Party.’

Allies of Sir Keir are confident they can hold restive Labour MPs at bay, with crucial local elections barely a week away.

The PM told a packed meeting of the Parliamentary Labour Party last night: ‘When we stick together and fight together we are so much stronger.’

He sought to dismiss the Commons vote as a ‘stunt’ ahead of the May elections.

‘I have responsibility for being totally transparent with you, with Parliament and the British public,’ he said.

‘I take that very seriously as well. But this is not about a lack of transparency.

‘This is a political stunt by our opponents who want to bring us down, obscure our message, stop us getting on with our work.

‘And the timing tells you everything, nine days before local elections.’

He said the Conservatives had put forward ‘totally baseless’ and ‘absolutely ridiculous’ accusations against him and insisted the motion on Tuesday was ‘pure politics’, adding: ‘We need to stand together against it.’

The Privileges Committee was responsible for Mr Johnson’s exit from frontline politics after it investigated him for misleading the House over the ‘Partygate’ breaches of Covid laws in Downing Street.

He quit as an MP in 2023 before the committee published a report recommending his suspension.

The Government also took the unusual step last night of publishing a letter from former cabinet secretary Sir Chris Wormald to the PM, in which he said he had concluded the ‘appropriate processes were followed’ in both the appointment and sacking of the peer.

Sir Keir has also faced questions for insisting to MPs that ‘no pressure existed whatsoever in relation to this case’ after former top Foreign Office official Sir Olly Robbins said there had been ‘constant chasing’ from No 10 while checks were taking place for the ambassadorship.

Sir Olly’s claims were echoed in written evidence to the Foreign Affairs Committee published last night from another key figure in the security process.

According to a letter from the Foreign Office drafted in consultation with Ian Collard, who was head of security in the department, the official said he ‘felt pressure to deliver a rapid outcome’ to the clearance procedure.

This was in light of ‘regular contact from No 10 to the FCDO (permanent under-secretary’s) office,’ the letter said, although Mr Collard did not personally speak to Downing Street colleagues and ‘does not assess that this pressure influenced professional judgment that was reached by himself or his team’.

The PM has been accused of misleading MPs by saying ‘full due process’ was followed in appointing Lord Mandelson, who was given developed vetting status despite failing security checks.

The Foreign Office, under then top civil servant Sir Olly, cleared him despite red flags raised by experts at the UK Security Vetting (UKSV) agency.

Mr Collard, who briefed Sir Olly on the vetting findings, also did not see the UKSV file recommending clearance be denied, according to the letter published on Monday.

Instead, he received an oral briefing from officials which led him to believe Lord Mandelson’s case was ‘borderline’ and that ‘the risks could be mitigated,’ the evidence said.

She said: ‘The Prime Minister misled the House of Commons repeatedly. He appointed a national security risk and friend of a convicted paedophile to be our ambassador in Washington, our most sensitive diplomatic post’

Mr Brown urged Labour to unite in focusing on putting ‘the needs of the country first’ in a statement.

‘Whatever the parliamentary games at Westminster, what the country expects of everyone in Labour is to focus on the priorities of the British people, which is what Keir Starmer is doing and for which he deserves all our support,’ he said.