I and the group of Conservative MPs who wanted a proper Brexit did not approve of Mrs May letting Sir Olly Robbins have so much influence over Brexit, negotiating a hopelessly one sided deal that suited the EU. We did not however personally attack this senior official or demand his sacking from the civil service. We argued strongly with the PM and then sought to remove her , holding the PM responsible for the feeble deal.
So I now find myself needing to make the case against Starmer sacking Robbins. Today the Committee needs to clarify whether he has been properly sacked. All we know is the PM says he sacked him but we have not seen the dismissal letter. The Committee needs to ask
1. Was he sacked in a short phone call?
2, What were the stated grounds of dismissal? Was it simply the PM had lost confidence in him, or was it an allegation of misconduct for failing to report details of the vetting of Mandelson?
3. Was Sir Olly given the chance to present his case against the sacking? Does he now have the option of an enquiry into conduct and the right to present his case? Misconduct is presumably the alleged grounds of dismissal as the post is not being discontinued to allow redundancy. The boss not liking you is not a legitimate ground for dismissal.
4. As the PM decided on a political appointment can we now see the letter or memo instructing the FCDO to change US Ambassadors and to announce the appointment of Mandelson? The PM has the power to make a political appointment but when he does so he needs to issue an instruction to pre empt the normal official process and competition.
5, As it was a political process with the successful candidate chosen by the PM he became responsible for satisfying himself that the candidate had the right skills and experience and would not damage national security or reputation. Why did the PM ‘s due diligence on Mandelson not uncover at least some of the worries the formal vetting process uncovered?
6. How could the PM ignore or not know the Epstein, China, Russia, business links of Mandelson and the risks they posed?
7. If he is properly sacked how much compensation will be paid to him?
April 21, 2026
Good Morning,
It has been reported that the PM didn’t have any great friendship, or even much liking, for Mandelson before making this appointment. So why? If, as reported, McSweeney was the main effort behind the throne to promote Mandelson, then why? (good time to find a stolen phone!)
The PM and his ‘team’ seem to be working to orders, from where and for what purpose? Starmer and Robbins appear to be on the same side, at least as far as the EU is concerned. The Fabian group, that counts Mandelson and Starmer and McSweeney as members might be worth looking into, as would be Wes Streetings interest in elevation, a reported acolyte of Mandelson’s.
Robbins testimony will hopefully reveal some hints where to look next.
A GE would be very welcome in September.
April 21, 2026
Another check that should be done. Starmer is adamant the correct process was followed for the Mandelson appointment & vetting (Civil service led – no ministerial influence). Did Starmer follow due process in sacking Robbins? If not, why not? and why should he remain PM if he can ignore processes when he says other must follow them?
April 21, 2026
No hope of a General Election Peter, this lot know where their pay cheque and gold plated Pension pension scheme comes from, which taxpayers fund completely.
Starmer as usual is hiding behind the detail and complex workings of Parliament, the Civil Service, Historical Law, Regulations, and Procedures.
This is a real problem the Country now has, on top of useless polices from clueless politicians, everything that governs our lives is, and has got more complex, expensive, confusing and time consuming.
April 21, 2026
Rstarmer is definitely working from some outside agenda probably with many of the senior civil Serpents. I find it odd that anyone can be as stupid as Starmer given his background.
He is working to an agenda detrimental to the UK and I must say Anderson was 100% correct
I think Starmer is the most despised politician on the planet and it’s a pretty low bar
April 21, 2026
Book smart v smart
April 21, 2026
+ 1
April 21, 2026
@Peter Wood – A General Election will be the only thing to clear the air. The much vaulted Local Elections are meaningless the result will be swept under the carpet the following day
April 21, 2026
Good morning.
Yesterday, Lee Anderson MP was dismissed from the house for calling the PM that which we all know he is. The reaction from the house, ie hardly no one objected to Lee Anderson’s statement, really says it all.
What Lee Anderson MP did was, and he knew what he was saying the consequences thereof, was in football parlance, ‘to take one for the team’. It cost him his seat and voice in the house, but someone had to do it and he thought it best him.
I am not for or against Lee Anderson MP, and I do not believe one should cast doubts on people needlessly, but I feel he was, and I believe he was, speaking for us all.
Thank you Mr. Anderson.
Reply. A Your party MP also said the same and was also thrown out.
April 21, 2026
When invited to withdraw his words the Honorable Lee Anderson was heard to remark. “That man couldn’t lie straight in bed”.
A quality double entendre.
April 21, 2026
I don’t think much of Starmer, and I’m ambivalent about Anderson, but the House of Commons should not descend into anarchy with members throwing insults around. The Speaker was absolutely right in ejecting Anderson from the House. I feel for him having to be unpleasant.
April 21, 2026
If what is said is true I fail to see how it is insulting.
April 21, 2026
@Mark B – then when it is asked about the actual Law & Chagos, Chagos electromagnetic spectrum. The Free Gifts, the loan of a flat seemingly for access, and a two tier answer is the response what sort of inexactitude is that?
It would be to be confirmed that should you get caught speeding and then apologise there is then no fault, no fowl, no fine. Or confirmation it is a TwoTier Country lead by a TwoTier Parliament.
The sooner we have a General Election the better for us all, this endless destruction can’t continue unabated
April 21, 2026
What people want to remember is that first and foremost is that Starmer is weasel leftist lawyer who doesn’t give a shit about the U.K. he is going to have to be removed from No10 kicking and screaming because the guy as no integrity a long with the rest of his rag tag party the sooner the liebour party are removed the better chance of this once great country recovering
April 21, 2026
I believe Two-Tier appointed Mandelson because he was told to do it. Several times, yesterday, he ignored/refused to answer the question “WHY did you appoint Mandelson?”
So there is another question which needs answering:
8. Which individual/s or which organisation told Two-Tier to appoint Mandelson?
Lee Anderson spoke for most of the country: the PM is a liar; he’s lying and he couldn’t lie straight in bed.
April 21, 2026
No one told Starmer to appoint Mandelson. This was a frolic of his own, entirely consistent with his general lack of judgement.
April 21, 2026
He is incapable of making a decision. In my opinion, he didn’t make this one …..
April 21, 2026
You got a “proper Brexit”. We left. The terms are rubbish but we told you they would be, the EU is much bigger than us. Will you Brexiters ever take responsibility for Brexit?
Reply Nonsense. We should have left without that Agreement, and traded on WTO most favoured nation terms as I proposed at the time. The Agreement was born of Remain thinking undermining what we voted for. It was still better than being in with all the extra costs and taxes.
April 21, 2026
Speaking as an Ulster Unionist, we were happy with Mrs May’s deal, because it meant no border between GB and NI. But you “and the group of Conservative MPs who wanted a proper Brexit” wrecked her deal, and replaced it with the Frost/ Boris deal that splits the UK in two. Call it a proper Brexit if you want but don’t you dare call yourself a Unionist, you and your freinds voted to divide our Union
Reply I disagreed with the Frost deal over NI and fish and made better proposals.
April 21, 2026
Don’t forget the “Benn” bill which tied the UK to get a deal, rather than just revert to WTO rules.
April 21, 2026
But the deal did mean a border between GB and NI. JR and others proposed a simple electronic customs solution with no hard border. The Ireland/NI border problem was contrived by Remainers looking for ways to frustrate the Leave vote.
April 21, 2026
There is no way that Starmer has followed the correct HR procedure in sacking Robbins, he has ignored the employment law that Labour not only support but have strengthened. The only reason you can fire someone on the spot is for gross misconduct which is plainly not applicable here. Indeed I wonder if Starmer even has the right to fire someone in the Civil Service ? For that reason it is certain that it will have been arranged that Robbins can “resign” or leave by mutual consent with a massive payoff, his pension intact, and probably a seat in the Lords. And an NDA signed.
April 21, 2026
Under Labour’s new employment laws NDAs are no longer binding.
Hoist.
April 21, 2026
Perhaps he hasn’t been sacked from the civil service, just removed from the position of Permanent Under Secretary of State.
April 21, 2026
The crucial question from Kemi in yesterday’s debate was number two: “On Sept 11 last year, journalists asked [Sir Keir’s] director of communications if it was true that Mandelson had failed security vetting. These allegations were on the front page of a national newspaper and yet No 10 did not deny the story. Why?”
To be followed by Diane Abbott. She said: ‘It is one thing, as the Prime Minister insists on saying “nobody told me, nobody told me anything”, but what this house wants to know is: why did the Prime Minister not ask?’
Starmer has no spark of curiosity, a dead man walking.
April 21, 2026
@Michael Staples – that’s why the desperation to get back under the EU cloak – the PM, Government & Parliament get told, ordered what to do without the responsibility of thought
April 21, 2026
The hopelessly incompetent individual called the PM of the UK, hangs on by a thread. Those sitting behind him in Parliament have the power to remove him. Sadly they’re to cowardly to do so. More concerned about their own status, jobs and remuneration. Than the disaster zone the UK has become.
April 21, 2026
@Old Albion – those sitting behind him the greater majority, the free-loading majority, ‘own’ everything that passes for product from the Government that they each individual are paid and empowered to hold to account
April 21, 2026
The PLP does not have the equivalent of the PCP’s 1922 Committee’s letters of no confidence in the PM. A vote of no confidence would have to be called by the opposition parties.
Do you really think that in the present HoC there is any chance of creating a majority of MPs who would first support such vote and then actually for it?
April 21, 2026
No. But Johnson was brought down by a new tactic employed by his cabinet and the Labour cabinet could follow suit.
It is possible for them to make the PMs position untenable.
April 21, 2026
The PM’s total disinterest on whether or not Mandelson passed the security vetting, even though his links to Russia and China were already well known, demonstrates that the PM was acting upon instructions himself.
April 21, 2026
If it is true that Olly Robbins did not inform the PM that Lord Mandelson had failed the security vetting for the role of US ambassador then surely whatever the reason, he has put the importance of the security of the country below that of this reason. Doesn’t this require there to be more severe punishment than simply a sacking? BTW, at the time of the Brexit negotiations, Olly Robbins asked the EU negotiator, Guy Everhofstadt, if he could become a Belgian national. Did this happen?
April 21, 2026
Guy Verhofstadt
April 21, 2026
“negotiating a hopelessly one sided deal that suited the EU”
Exactly! You may be willing to lay this at the feet of Teresa May (and she would deserve it) but this man was also responsible for handing the EU so many negotiating advantages. It was either gross incompetance (which I doubt) or very deliberate (which I strongly suspect). Whether dismissed ‘by the book’ (or not) good riddance and I hope that this the last we will see of Sir Oilly, although I doubt that.
April 21, 2026
A Two Tier Country with the integrity and standing of the so-called Democratic Parliament shot to pieces, both at home and abroad.
Does Parliament hold the Excitative to account of not? Then what’s the Point of Parliament? Then what’s the point of a Government that is a Law under itself and just cant be bothered to manage the State or is Departments?
Does the Civil Service advise or cut Parliament out, again what is the point of Parliament?
The EU unelected unaccountable dictating, the UK Civil Service the unelected unaccountable dictating, the Quango’s unelected unaccountable dictating – the Parliament full of ‘Free-Loaders’ seemingly also unaccountable?
April 21, 2026
Here is a question for Sir Two Tier to answer.
Given the information that was in the public domain about Prince Andrew in December 2024 would Sir Two Tier have appointed him in any type of ambassadorial role for the UK?
If not then why appoint Peter Mandelson as His Majesty’s Ambassador to the United States of America as the information about him in the public domain was at least as damming and he has already resigned from government for misdemeanor several times.
April 21, 2026
Did Sir Ollie Trougher seek legal advice on hos view that the vetting outcome could not be shared?
Why did he not share it with the hiring manager who was the Foreign Secretary? (Whether the Foreign Secretary has the wherewithal to understand the implications is moot).
April 21, 2026
Your first three points are generally overridden by the size of the taxpayer funded settlement with the individual unless discrimination is involved.
April 21, 2026
Seemingly Sir Olly Robbins and Sir Kier Starmer have much in common, they both peruse ideology as a political religious belief, that has them both believing that as rulers it is what the say that is the Law not what they do.
Approval, scrutiny and democracy has no part, they are above all that.
The rot and corrosion of Society, by those without a mandate just personal hate of a Nation and its People
April 21, 2026
After yesterdays fiasco and taken in the ’round’ the threat to the safety and security of the Country was and is not just from Mandelson, it has been shown to be Parliament, the Government, The Prime Minster and the Civil Service. They are all working to a different agenda to that of ensuring the safety security, resilience and self-reliance of the Nation and it People. They are demonstrating that their egos are above the purpose of their only jobs as such they demonstrate instead of ability, a hate of the County and its People
April 21, 2026
OK, Starmer is an arch-prevaricator, but let’s consider the even worse possibility that on this occasion he’s more or less telling the truth. Isn’t the real story then that the civil serpents treat politicians as an irrelevance, only telling them what’s going on when it’s unavoidable? If knowledge is power, it’s the permanent officials who keep the knowledge to themselves, and it’s they who wield the power.
April 21, 2026
It seems this sacking was knee jerk reaction to relieve pressure on the PM. It was not thought through very well as responsibility has not been completely identified.
Starmer’s marathon PMQ clarified little for me. But he will have seen the forces reigned against him were serious.
It would be nice to imagine we could put a few problems behind us if he would fall on his sword, but he is not that sort of PM.
I still predict that Starmer will hold onto his position, by hook or by crook.
Whatever happens all concerned must keep piling on the pressure. to put in some control on a wayward PM.
April 21, 2026
Why did no one ask Sir Keir, ” What made you think Peter Mandelson would be ideal for the role of UK Ambassador to the USA?”