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Watch in full as top civil servant Cat Little appeared before the Foreign Affairs Committee on Thursday, 23 April, amid further scrutiny over the vetting process to appoint Lord Peter Mandelson as US ambassador.
Sir Olly Robbins appeared before the committee on Tuesday, where he gave damning evidence about the role Downing Street played in the appointment of Lord Mandelson as British ambassador to Washington.
The prime minister sacked the former Foreign Office chief last week after it emerged he did not tell Sir Keir that Lord Mandelson had been cleared to take the top diplomatic post despite security vetting officials recommending against it.
The top mandarin confirmed the government’s story, but said there was a “dismissive approach” on vetting from No 10 and an “atmosphere of pressure” to get Lord Mandelson’s appointment over the line.
During Wednesday’s Prime Minister’s Questions, Kemi Badenoch asked Sir Keir whether he stood by his previous statements to the House of Commons that due process had been followed in the appointment.
The Prime Minister replied that he did, adding: “Yesterday, Sir Olly Robbins was asked if he shared that decision with me, No 10 or any other ministers. He gave a clear answer: no. That puts to bed all the allegations levelled at me by those opposite in relation to dishonesty.”
It comes as a growing rift emerges in Sir Keir’s cabinet, as ministers turn against the prime minister over his handling of the Lord Mandelson scandal, with the atmosphere among the top team described as “bleak”.
Several of Sir Keir’s ministers, including Rachel Reeves, Shabana Mahmood, and Wes Streeting, have reportedly accused the PM of creating a “them and us” split between No10 and the civil service.
One senior government source told The Telegraph that “there is a sense that it’s over now”, and that the “wheels have stopped turning” in Downing Street.