What happens during security vetting and why did Peter Mandelson fail his?

After Keir Starmer announced Peter Mandelson as his pick to be ambassador to the US in December 2024, officials in the Foreign Office contacted him to organise the security vetting clearance process.As with almost all of the 8,000 officials working in the Foreign Office’s Whitehall headquarters, Mandelson required a level of clearance known as developed vetting(DV). This is necessary for individuals in roles that require frequent and uncontrolled access to material marked top secret.The vetting process is not carried out by the Foreign Office. It is done by security officials who work for United Kingdom Security Vetting (UKSV)

Olly Robbins and Mandelson’s vetting: what did he do, why – and who knew?

Fiddling with his reading glasses, the then cabinet secretary, Sir Chris Wormald – sitting alongside the most senior civil servant in the Foreign Office, Sir Olly Robbins – suddenly appeared a little tense.The bonhomie evident in earlier answers had quite disappeared.It was 3 November 2025, and Peter Mandelson had been removed from his post as ambassador to the US two months earlier, after the disclosure of Jeffrey Epstein’s emails.MPs on the cross-party foreign affairs select committee were grilling the most senior civil servants involved in Mandelson’s appointment about the vetting and due diligence.Just over an hour in, Fleur Anderson, the MP for Putney, asked what can now be seen as a crucial question about the process: “In general, what is the end product of all that vetting? Does it all get put into one report? Who receives that report?”“The report is received by the employing department and employing line manager – in this case, that would be Sir Oliver,” Wormald responded, looking to his left towards Robbins

Five unanswered questions on Keir Starmer’s Mandelson debacle

Downing Street has tried to do a lot of explaining, as has Keir Starmer himself. But there are still plenty of things we do not know about how Peter Mandelson failed security vetting, and what the prime minister did or did not know about it.A fairly key question. Downing Street is clear: it is “staggering” that Mandelson failed vetting, and that the Foreign Office not only overruled this but told no one in No 10.However, Ciaran Martin, a former top civil servant with past involvement in vetting work – and a close friend of the ousted Olly Robbins – said this was an oversimplification

‘Almost like a Bond villain’: why Labour MPs expect Starmer to cling on as PM

It still feels improbable that the UK prime minister, Keir Starmer, will face a formal challenge even if, as assumed, his Labour party performs disastrously in next month’s local elections. But for many of his MPs, the latest revelations about Peter Mandelson have emphasised that the question is simply one of when, not if.“It does seems incredible that he didn’t know, but the problem is that it’s quite possible as well,” was the summary of one backbencher, in response to No 10’s insistence that no one had told the prime minister that his pick to be the UK ambassador to Washington had failed his security vetting.Some MPs believe the Mandelson vetting fiasco could be terminally damaging for a prime minister who, as one said, had painted himself as “whiter than white”. “I can’t see how he survives this,” one said

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

The prime minister has spoken to reporters in Paris this morning, saying it is “unforgivable” and “staggering” he wasn’t told Peter Mandelson was denied security clearance.He said:double quotation markThat I wasn’t told that he’d failed security vetting when I was telling parliament that due process had been followed is unforgivable.Not only was I not told, no minister was told and I’m absolutely furious about it.Keir Starmer added:double quotation markIt is totally unacceptable that the prime minister making an appointment is not told that security vetting has been failed.He added he will “set out all the relevant facts in true transparency” to parliament on Monday

Peter Mandelson’s failed security vetting: a timeline of the controversy

Keir Starmer is facing calls to resign after the Guardian revealed that Peter Mandelson failed the developed vetting process over his appointment as US ambassador – but was able to take up the post after the Foreign Office overruled the recommendation.Here is the timeline of Mandelson’s controversial appointment and the fallout it has caused.Labour wins a landslide election victory engineered by Mandelson’s protege Morgan McSweeney, of whom Mandelson once said: “I don’t know who and how and when he was invented. But whoever it was, they will find their place in heaven.” Mandelson said the election win was “an extraordinary achievement for Keir Starmer and his team”