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Starmer 'put a nuclear bomb' under Mandelson row by sacking Olly Robbins

Friday, 24 April 2026 06:25

Sir Keir Starmer's decision to sack Olly Robbins put a "nuclear bomb" under the Mandelson scandal, Harriet Harman has said.

The prime minister fired the former Foreign Office chief last week over his decision not to tell him Peter Mandelson had failed security vetting.

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Speaking on Electoral Dysfunction, Baroness Harman said the move "has made the whole thing blow up".

"People in the party out in the country are thinking we wish he hadn't fired him, however much justification he had because he's put a nuclear bomb under the whole thing," she said.

"He wouldn't have had to do the statement in the House of Commons. We wouldn't have had all this evidence to the select committee if he hadn't had fired Olly Robbins."

"He could have done all the investigations and then possibly done due process of disciplining and firing Olly Robbins, but not actually a summary dismissal, which has made the whole thing blow up."

Baroness Harman added Mandelson was "clearly the wrong appointment and a dangerous appointment for the UK to be making".

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The row over Mandelson's vetting has consumed the government for the past week. The prime minister has claimed Sir Olly should have told him that UK Security Vetting (UKSV) had recommended against appointing Mandelson as UK ambassador to the US.

But Sir Olly says it was down to him, as head of the Foreign Office, to decide whether to give Mandelson security clearance - and that UKSV considered it a borderline case.

Sir Keir is once again facing a leadership crisis. All major political party leaders have called for him to resign, as have two backbench Labour MPs.

Sky News