Revealed: Mandelson failed vetting but Foreign Office overruled decision

Guardian investigation uncovers decision by UK security officials to deny clearance before Mandelson took up role as US ambassadorTop civil servant Olly Robbins forced out over vetting rowOfficials debate withholding Mandelson vetting documents from parliamentFive key questions: Who overruled the decision to deny Mandelson security clearance?Peter Mandelson failed his security vetting clearance but the decision was overruled by the Foreign Office to ensure he could take up his post as ambassador to the US, an investigation by the Guardian can reveal.According to multiple sources, Mandelson was initially denied clearance in late January 2025 after a developed vetting process, a highly confidential background check by security officials.Keir Starmer had by then announced he would be making Mandelson the UK’s chief diplomat in Washington, posing a dilemma for officials at the Foreign Office, who decided to use a rarely used authority to override the recommendation from security officials.Mandelson’s failure to secure vetting approval has not previously been publicly revealed, despite intense scrutiny over his appointment and the release by the government of 147 pages of documents supposed to shed light on the case.Downing Street released a statement late on Thursday confirming the Guardian’s story

A decade on from Brexit, Britain still flounders without a place in the world | Letters

Perhaps the saddest consequence of Brexit is that it has left the UK a profoundly unhappy country (Ten years after Brexit, this is the UK: a divided nation frozen in time, 9 April). For Brexit supporters, the dream of a proud, independent Britain able to direct its own destiny in the world is nowhere near fulfilled, as if it ever could be. And they continue to grasp at the nearest proximate cause – an “invasion” of immigrants undermining British identity and draining its resources. For those who wished to remain, Brexit has left them unmoored from the security of membership of a grouping that gave them an identity and clear position in the world.Unfortunately, that unhappiness is now exacerbated by the state of the world outside the UK

SNP pledges to cap bread and milk prices if it wins Scotland’s parliamentary elections

The SNP will cap supermarket prices for essential goods such as bread and milk if it retains power, John Swinney has pledged, after describing the cost of living as “the defining issue of this election”.With polls pointing to a fifth Holyrood term for the Scottish National party, its leader said he would use devolved public health powers to fix prices on 20 to 50 items such as bread, milk, cheese, eggs, rice and chicken because their rising cost was “impacting our nation’s nutrition”.The eye-catching pledge, made at the launch of the SNP manifesto for the Scottish parliament election, was immediately dismissed as a “potty gimmick” by retailers. It could also put the party on a collision course with the UK government because it may breach the Scotland Act of 1998 that created a devolved parliament.Ewan MacDonald-Russell, deputy head of the Scottish Retail Consortium, said supermarkets already paid significantly higher rates in Scotland, £162m more over the next three years than in England

CEO of bitcoin firm championed by Nigel Farage leaves company

The chief executive of a bitcoin company promoted by Nigel Farage has left his role as the venture attempts to convince investors that it is going to deliver “long-term value” for shareholders.Stack BTC was launched to much fanfare in March this year, with Farage and former chancellor Kwasi Kwarteng becoming some of its first shareholders. The company says its founder is Paul Withers, a friend of the Reform UK leader who owns a gold bullion company that Farage has also promoted, Direct Bullion.However, Stack BTC is a renamed company which was founded in 2021 by Jai Patel, whose departure as chief executive was announced on Wednesday. The company, formerly called Kasei Investment Holdings, invested in cryptocurrency and a range of other digital assets

Reeves tells Americans Trump’s Iran war is a ‘mistake’

Rachel Reeves has stepped up her criticism of Donald Trump’s war on Iran, describing it as a “mistake” that has destabilised the global economy and damaged living standards around the world.In a marked fraying of the transatlantic relationship, the British chancellor said Trump breaking off from diplomatic talks with Iran and launching airstrikes seemed to have left the president in a worse place than he started.“I think it was a mistake to end those [talks with Iran] and to enter into conflict, because I’m not convinced that we are safer today than we were a few weeks ago,” she told an event in Washington.Taking aim at the White House on the president’s home turf, the chancellor’s comments added to blunt criticism of him she made just before flying out on Tuesday, when she expressed frustration at the “folly” of his decision to go to war without a clear exit plan.Speaking as she prepared to meet global finance ministers at this week’s spring meetings of the International Monetary Fund (IMF), Reeves said the war had hit living standards in the UK and the US

Trump warns US-UK trade deal ‘can always be changed’ with relations in ‘sad state’

Donald Trump has threatened to row back on the trade deal the US signed with the UK last year, in his latest salvo against the British government over sharp differences about the US’s approach to the Middle East.The US president said the economic deal struck with the UK, which cut some of his tariffs on cars, aluminium and steel, was “better than I had to” and that it could “always be changed”.UK ministers have cited the agreement signed last May as an example of the continuing close ties with the US, which they argue persist despite Trump’s increasingly harsh criticism of Keir Starmer and his government.However, they are furious at the economic fallout on the UK and other nations from the US decision to go to war with Iran, potentially triggering a global recession that would affect the UK more than any of the other G7 nations.Rachel Reeves, the chancellor, has said she is “frustrated and angry” that the US launched strikes without a clear idea of its objectives, while Starmer said last week he was “fed up” with Trump’s actions causing energy bills to rise

Balancing UK’s welfare and defence spending ‘not zero-sum game’, minister says

A Treasury minister has said balancing welfare and defence spending “is not a zero-sum game”, amid stark warnings that the UK will have to increase its military budget to ensure national security during global volatility.James Murray, the chancellor’s deputy, said the government was pushing ahead with the biggest sustained increase in defence investments since the cold war, but he would not say when it would publish its delayed defence investment plan.George Robertson, a former defence secretary and head of Nato, has accused the Treasury of “vandalism” for failing to sufficiently boost the armed forces as the Iran conflict continues to highlight their depleted state. He suggested defence should be prioritised over more welfare spending.The government has committed to reach 2

Badenoch calls Farage an ‘opportunist’ after he urges Scottish nationalists to back Reform

Kemi Badenoch, the leader of the Conservative party, has accused Nigel Farage of being an opportunist who does not believe in unionism after he urged Scottish nationalists to back Reform.Farage said earlier this week he believed “genuine nationalists” would not support the Scottish National party’s bid to rejoin the EU, and urged them to vote Reform in the Holyrood election on 7 May.He also told the Scotsman that while he believed in the UK, it was “probably quite reasonable” to hold a second independence referendum in the future, “if this issue came back”.Badenoch, speaking to reporters in Edinburgh on Thursday, said only her party was truly centre-right and unionist. “Nigel Farage doesn’t really believe in anything except Nigel Farage

No 10 claims Starmer did not know Mandelson failed security vetting until this week – as it happened

Downing Street has just issued a statement saying Starmer did not know that Mandelson had failed the vetting process until earlier this week. A No 10 spokesperson said:double quotation markThe security vetting process for Peter Mandelson was sponsored by the FCDO. The decision to grant Developed Vetting to Peter Mandelson against the recommendation of UK Security Vetting was taken by officials in the FCDO.Neither the prime minister, nor any government minister, was aware that Peter Mandelson was granted Developed Vetting against the advice of UK Security Vetting until earlier this week.Once the prime minister was informed he immediately instructed officials to establish the facts about why the Developed Vetting was granted, in order to enact plans to update the House of Commons