The former official alleges pressure from the UK prime minister's office to appoint a US ambassador with ties to Epstein
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A former senior Foreign Office official said on Tuesday he was under “pressure” from the office of UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer to speed up plans to install a US ambassador, widening a row that threatens the British leader.
A war of words over who should ultimately be blamed for appointing Labor veteran Peter Mandelson to Britain's top leadership despite his past and known relationship with the late American sex offender Jeffrey Epstein has put pressure on Starmer, leading critics to call for his resignation.
Starmer said he was “wrong” to appoint Mandelson to the role and expressed regret, but on Monday he strongly blamed officials for failing to tell him that the intelligence agency had advised him of his appointment – which, he added, would have prevented him from hiring a new ambassador.
On Tuesday, it was the turn of Olly Robbins, who was sacked late on Thursday after Starmer and Foreign Minister Yvette Cooper said they no longer trusted him, to defend him. He quickly turned his attention to Starmer's office.
“I went into a situation where there was already a lot of expectation … that he should be in office and in America as soon as possible,” Robbins told a parliamentary committee.
“I think it's all of January [2025]frankly, my office, the foreign secretary's office, was under constant pressure,” Robbins said. “There was a constant sense of urgency,” he said, describing the “very frequent calls” from Starmer's 10 Downing Street private office.
Peter Mandelson, the former UK ambassador to the United States, has been arrested in a misconduct investigation stemming from his relationship with Jeffrey Epstein. Mandelson is accused of passing sensitive government information to Epstein in 2009.
He said the review panel had advised that the appointment was borderline and dependent on approval – a message Starmer said his government never got.
Robbins' comments are likely to increase pressure on Starmer, who after winning Labour's biggest-ever majority in the 2024 general election is facing fresh calls to step down over the months-long scandal.
Labor lawyers say there will be no immediate move to sack Starmer over the scandal, especially as the party is expected to suffer heavy losses in local elections in England and regional votes in Wales and Scotland in just two weeks' time.
But the return to focus on Starmer's Downing Street performance will do little to appease those lawmakers who have repeatedly raised concerns about its effectiveness, criticizing what some call a bunker mentality and lack of access.
Some of his Labor Party lawmakers highlighted Robbins' revelation that Downing Street had also sought the job of ambassador for Matthew Doyle, the prime minister's former senior communications director.
Doyle was expelled from the Labor Party over his links to convicted sex offender, ex-politician Sean Morton, and has since apologized for his actions, but one lawyer described the attempt to get him a job in Downing Street as “absolutely awful.”
As the revelations continue, even other senior ministers have subtly distanced themselves from Starmer over Mandelson's decision.
Asked what was on his mind about the appointment, Energy Minister Ed Miliband told Sky News: “It could explode, it could go wrong.”
