April 17 (UPI) -- British Prime Minister Keir Starmer fired the most senior civil servant in the Foreign Office for failing to disclose that former ambassador to the United States Peter Mandelson failed his security check.
Starmer called the official, Olly Robbins, on Thursday and informed him that he had lost confidence in him, as did Foreign Secretary Yvette Cooper. Starmer said Friday that he was "absolutely furious."
"I was not told that he failed security vetting," Starmer said Friday in Paris. "No minister was told that he failed security vetting. Number 10 wasn't told that he failed security vetting."
Mandelson was named ambassador to the United States in December 2024 and assumed the role in February 2025.
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