Olly Robbins to make bombshell Keir Starmer accusation in 'box office' tell-all TODAY
Sir Olly Robbins - the recently sacked Foreign Office chief - is set to make a bombshell accusation against Sir Keir Starmer to MPs today.
His appearance before the Foreign Affairs Select Committee has been touted as "box office", with one senior Whitehall source telling The Times he will "not hold back".
Sir Olly is expected to accuse the PM of pressuring the Foreign Office into approving Lord Mandelson's appointment - despite knowing about his friendship with the paedophile Jeffrey Epstein and his links to Russia and China.
He was sacked from his position last week, with Sir Keir accusing the senior civil servant of a cover-up and saying the decision not to inform him that Lord Mandelson's failed security vetting "beggars belief".
But now, Sir Olly will use his appearance this morning to reveal that he did not see the advice from UK Security Vetting (UKSV), which recommended against the appointment.
He was given a "verbal briefing" by the Foreign Office, and was told that UKSV considered Lord Mandelson's case to be "borderline" - though if it was up to UKSV it was unlikely he would have been given the green light.
Sir Olly then assessed the "outstanding risks" and concluded that they could be mitigated, he is set to say.
His "overarching narrative", meanwhile, is that the vetting process is confidential and shielded from ministers.
Ahead of the ousted civil servant's appearance, Sir Keir told MPs yesterday: “A deliberate decision was taken to withhold that material. There was not a lack of asking. This wasn’t an oversight. It was a decision. It was a decision taken not to share that information on repeated occasions.”
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Meanwhile in Washington... Donald Trump brutally rips into Keir Starmer for appointing Lord Mandelson
In what will likely be seen as an untimely intervention from DC this morning, Donald Trump has laid into Sir Keir Starmer over his appointment of Lord Mandelson as ambassador to the US.
Mr Trump said: "Prime Minister Keir Starmer of the United Kingdom acknowledged that he 'exercised wrong judgement' when he chose his ambassador to Washington.
"I agree, he was a really bad pick."
"Plenty of time to recover, however," the President prodded.
READ THE FULL STORY ON DONALD TRUMP'S LATEST ATTACK ON THE PM HERE
