Sir Keir Starmer has said there was only the "everyday pressure of Government" to clear Lord Peter Mandelson as ambassador to Washington, amid the ongoing row over his vetting for the position. The Prime Minister stood by his decision to sack former Foreign Office chief Sir Olly Robbins and maintained it was wrong for the veteran civil servant not to have told Sir Keir that the peer was cleared against the recommendation of UK Security Vetting.

Sir Keir Starmer has said there was only the "everyday pressure of Government" to clear Lord Peter Mandelson as ambassador to Washington, amid the ongoing row over his vetting for the position.The Prime Minister stood by his decision to sack former Foreign Office chief Sir Olly Robbins and maintained it was wrong for the veteran civil servant not to have told Sir Keir that the peer was cleared against the recommendation of UK Security Vetting.