Starmer says it is ‘staggering’ and ‘unforgivable’ he was not told Mandelson failed vetting

The prime minister was responding to Guardian revelations that Peter Mandelson failed his security clearance but the decision was overruled by the Foreign Office to ensure he could take up his post as ambassador to the US. Sir Olly Robbins, the UK Foreign Office’s top civil servant, has already been forced out of his post overnight and there are calls from opposition parties for the prime minister himself to resign. Starmer is in Paris to chair a gathering of world leaders on the opening of the strait of Hormuz as the revelations sink in in Westminster and Whitehall Revealed: Mandelson failed vetting but Foreign Office overruled decision