Archiv: Olly Robbins


21.04.2026 - 21:53 [ theNational.scot ]

No 10 bid for SECOND paedo-linked Labour ally to get ambassador role

He was later pushed on who had ordered him to look into getting Doyle a position, and who had ordered him not to tell the foreign secretary (which at the time was David Lammy).

Robbins said: “I don‘t know what the origin of the suggestion was, and I don‘t know who exactly was behind it or how serious it was.

“It was serious enough for the No 10 private office to ring up the head of the diplomatic service and ask for a forward look of available head of mission jobs, and that‘s the point at which I thought that I needed to lay down some markers.”

21.04.2026 - 21:30 [ theGuardian.com ]

Olly Robbins: I was asked to find job for Starmer aide and not tell David Lammy

Testifying to MPs at parliament’s foreign affairs select committee on Tuesday, Olly Robbins said he had several conversations with No 10 about finding a role for Matthew Doyle, who was later suspended as a Labour peer after it emerged he had campaigned for a friend charged with possessing indecent images of children.

Robbins said he had been asked not to mention the idea to David Lammy, who was foreign secretary at the time.

Robbins described the conversations as part of more general pressure from people at the top of the government to place senior political figures in senior diplomatic posts.

21.04.2026 - 15:27 [ theGuardian.com ]

Olly Robbins says he faced ‘constant pressure’ to get Mandelson in post

Asked who in No 10 had applied pressure, he said it was mainly the prime minister’s private office, which is staffed by civil servants. But he added: “I think that the private office would only have been [putting on] this pressure themselves if they were under pressure.”

21.04.2026 - 14:54 [ New York Times ]

Fired U.K. Official Describes ‘Pressure’ From Starmer’s Office for Envoy’s Appointment

The former top civil servant in Britain’s foreign office, who was fired by Prime Minister Keir Starmer last week, said on Tuesday that Mr. Starmer’s office had a “dismissive attitude” about the security vetting of Peter Mandelson, an associate of Jeffrey Epstein who became ambassador to the United States despite concerns raised during the vetting process.

The former civil servant, Olly Robbins, testified in Parliament that he and other officials in charge of deciding whether to grant Mr. Mandelson a high-level security clearance were working in “an atmosphere of pressure” to ensure that nothing got in the way of Mr. Mandelson’s appointment.

17.04.2026 - 20:56 [ theGuardian.com ]

After the latest Mandelson revelations, Starmer needs to get a good lawyer. Wasn’t he supposed to be one?

During the opposition years, his defenders countered that a stolid technocrat was exactly what the country needed. They sold the former head of the Crown Prosecution Service as the polar opposite of Boris Johnson, who was driven from Downing Street in part by Starmer’s own forensic questioning. If only Starmer had lived up to the billing of his detractors, reluctantly conceded by his allies, he wouldn’t be in the hole he finds himself this weekend.

Instead, he now has to rely on a defence that is lawyerly in the worst sense of that word. To have knowingly misled parliament is, in political terms, a capital crime. So the PM has to proceed on two tracks, one for “knowingly” the other for “misled”.

17.04.2026 - 20:38 [ BBC ]

Starmer sacks top Foreign Office official after Mandelson vetting revelations

The BBC understands Sir Keir Starmer and Foreign Secretary Yvette Cooper lost confidence in Sir Olly Robbins and was effectively sacked after a Guardian investigation revealed Mandelson had not been security cleared.

The PM is facing calls to resign amid claims he misled MPs when he told them „full due process“ had been followed.

Senior minister Darren Jones said Sir Keir had not been told of the vetting recommendation until Tuesday this week, had not misled MPs and would not be resigning.

17.04.2026 - 20:21 [ UnioneSarda.it ]

Epstein-Fall, neue hochrangige Rücktritte in England. Starmer unter Druck: „Er sollte zurücktreten.“

(April 16, 2026)

„Es ist unverzeihlich, dass kein Minister, nicht einmal Downing Street, informiert wurde“, kommentierte Premierminister Keir Starmer. Doch Starmer selbst geriet ins Visier der Opposition, die seinen Rücktritt fordert. Der Chef von Downing Street scheint jedoch nicht zurücktreten zu wollen. „Er wird nicht zurücktreten“, versicherte Starmers engster Vertrauter, Darren Jones.

17.04.2026 - 20:13 [ theGuardian.com ]

Revealed: Mandelson failed vetting but Foreign Office overruled decision

(Thu 16 Apr 2026 19.16 CEST)

In September, in a letter co-signed with foreign secretary Yvette Cooper, Robbins told MPs that “conducted to the usual standard set for developed vetting.

The Guardian understands that Robbins was told he had to resign after Starmer and Cooper lost confidence in the civil servant.

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.

10.09.2019 - 17:38 [ Labour Leave ‏/ Twitter ]

Olly Robbins, the EU‘s chief negotiator, has not only been granted a knighthood by May, he‘s just taken a job with Goldman Sachs – who bankrolled the Remain campaign. Maybe May just hopes he‘ll keep his mouth shut.

13.02.2019 - 10:49 [ Standard.co.uk ]

Who is Olly Robbins and what role does he play in Theresa May‘s Brexit negotiations?

Known by some as the mandarin‘s mandarin, he is reputed to be the only person in Whitehall to fully grasp the complexities of the British negotiating position.

Officially, Mr Robbins heads the Cabinet Office Europe Unit.

13.02.2019 - 10:44 [ ITV.com ]

Exclusive: UK chief Brexit negotiator Olly Robbins warns MPs the choice is May’s deal or extension

It was then, when we walked into the bar, we realised Olly Robbins was also in the same hotel. He too was having a drink.

He was with two colleagues in the bar and could be clearly overheard by other guests as he gossiped about Brexit, the cabinet and MPs.

He was speaking in such a manner that you didn’t have to listen hard to hear him.