It’s always the cover-up that gets you in the end.

Late on Thursday, No 10 moved to protect Sir Keir Starmer by saying a decision to ignore a recommendation that Peter Mandelson had not passed vetting was ignored by civil servants in the Foreign Office – and them alone.

No 10 is effectively throwing the Foreign Office’s Permanent Secretary, Olly Robbins, under the bus.

The idea that Mandelson failed his security vetting clearance, but that the decision was overruled by the Foreign Office to ensure he could take up his post as ambassador to the US, poses more questions than it answers.

If true, why did Robbins take it upon himself to not raise the vetting committee’s conclusion with Starmer’s No 10? Was Robbins even aware of........

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