Robbins evidence reveals No 10 pressure on Mandelson appointment and Doyle ambassadorial role

The sacked senior civil servant Oliver Robbins has said he was subject to "constant pressure" when he started working at the Foreign Office to get Peter Mandelson in post as soon as possible. Robbins was speaking to the Commons foreign affairs committee in a hearing which has revived claims that, despite Keir Starmer claiming that the Mandelson appointment was in part a vetting failure, in reality Starmer's team were hell-bent on getting Mandelson to Washington despite the multiple concerns about the appointment.

Robbins also revealed that at one point No 10 wanted him to find a diplomatic post for Matthew Doyle, who was Starmer's communications director at the time. Privately, some Labour MPs have been expressing alarm about the latest revelations.

The account of Mandelson's vetting process given by Robbins has raised new questions about whether Robbins was misled about the findings of the agency responsible for vetting.

Matthew Doyle, the former No 10 communications chief who got a peerage after he left Downing Street, has said that he "never sought" a post as an ambassador and that he was "never aware of anyone speaking to the FCDO about such a role for me". He was responding to the revelations at today's committee hearing with Olly Robbins.

Darren Jones, the chief secretary to the PM, is winding up on behalf of the government at the end of the Mandelson debate. He started by stressing that Keir Starmer has apologised for the Mandelson appointment.

Jones said in the debate today it was claimed the Cabinet Office suggested Mandelson did not need security vetting. Jones said it was the other way round. He said it was the Foreign Office that asked the Cabinet Office if Mandelson needed to vetting given that he was already a peer and privy counsellor. He said the vetting then took place.

Jones said some MPs asked about the policy for material being redacted when the government publishes the Mandelson material required by the Commons humble address. Jones said any redactions would be visible, because they would be indicated by black marking. And they would be agreed with the intelligence and security committee, he said.

Jones told MPs a leak inquiry is underway into the source of the Guardian's story published on Thursday last week. And he said a further release of information required by the humble address demanding the publication of paperwork relating to Mandelson's appointment would be coming "shortly".

Kemi Badenoch closed the debate. She thanked the Tory MPs who supported her. And she also praised some of the Labour MPs who spoke, saying that this is the first time she ever agreed with the leftwing MP Richard Burgon.

Badenoch said there were still many unanswered questions. She said: "[Jones] could not answer why the prime minister put the Foreign Office under constant pressure to approve the appointment. He could not answer why No 10 were dismissive of the entire vetting process. He could not answer why No 10 also asked for the disgraced Matthew Doyle to be made an ambassador, and hid this from the foreign secretary, and he could not answer why the prime minister sacked Olly Robbins if he was following a process which he claims was there already."

Badenoch said she would try getting questions again at PMQs tomorrow. She ended: "The prime minister has put the country's national security at risk. He is not fit for office. He must take responsibility. It is time for him to go."

Louise Haigh has given an interview to LBC's Tonight with Andrew Marr. She said the latest Mandelson revelations showed "a very small clique at the heart of the Labour party and the heart of this government have been pushing decisions in their own self interest, not in the parties and certainly not in the countries". She said: "There has been a very small clique, primarily of men with a fetish for the worst elements of New Labour, that have pushed interests in their own interest. And the revelations that we continue to see around Peter Mandelson and now around Matthew Doyle are evidence of that."

Emily Thornberry, the chair of the foreign affairs committee, has told LBC's Tonight with Andrew Marr that she thought it was clear from Olly Robbins' evidence today that Morgan McSweeney, Keir Starmer's former chief of staff, was the person pushing for Peter Mandelson to get the ambassador post. She said: "This is Morgan taking too much power to himself. And the criticism of Kier is that he let him."

Asked if the committee would be summoning McSweeney to give evidence, Thornberry replied: "I am going to invite some other witnesses. It would probably be best if they heard that first from me rather than from you."