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"Sacked foreign office top diplomat Sir Olly Robbins accused PM Sir Keir Starmer's team of putting 'constant pressure' on him and his department over the vetting of former US ambassador Lord Peter Mandelson, at his bombshell appearance before MPs on Tuesday. "My office, the Foreign Secretary's office, were under constant pressure. There was an atmosphere of constant chasing," he said. "I think that the vector I was most conscious of was from Number 10 private office." He also appeared top blame Starmer's own judgement in appointing Mandelson for the row. "I wasn't walking into a vacuum. I arrived to a situation in which a due diligence report had been undertaken into Mandelson by the Cabinet Office assessing the reputational risks and his fitness for office. The Prime Minister had then presumably taken advice on his fitness for office. The name had been submitted to the King as Minister's recommendation. The Prime Minister had made an announcement that Mandelson was his nominee without caveats," he said. "There was already a very very strong expectation... that he needed to be in post and in America as quickly as humanly possible," he added. During her introduction Emily Thornberry, Chair of the Foreign Affairs Select Committee, accused him of only telling 'part of the truth' during an earlier appearance, quipping: "it's a little bit like you know saying I had to run to work today, but not saying that you were chased by a bear." UK PM Sir Keir Starmer was jeered by lawmakers after saying they might find his side of ongoing US ambassador row 'unbelievable', as he faced lawmakers in a showdown in London's House of Commons on Monday. Last week, it was reported in the media that the Mandelson failed security vetting - but that it was overridden by the foreign office. The PM has claimed he was not aware of that until last week. Robbins told MPs that was not how the process worked - that the vetting side did not 'fail' a candidate', nor did his department 'overrule'. "The relationship between the two is set out in guidance and has been set out to this committee and in Parliament and so the outcome of the vetting process is what is decided by the Foreign Office on the basis of the UKSV findings and our own assessment of the risk and whether we can manage them," he said. Robbins was asked: "Is the Prime Minister right to have expected you to provide him with more information on the vetting process?" He replied: "I hope it's clear from everything I've said so far that I believe that's a misunderstanding and a dangerous misunderstanding of the necessity of confidentiality of the process." Starmer fired Robbins on Thursday, saying he had committed an 'unforgivable error' in not telling him about any vetting issues. The Mandelson row returned following the publications of many more documents from the 'Epstein files' by the US Department of Justice. The former ambassador has strongly denied wrongdoing. Starmer claimed he had been lied to and has repeatedly said he wouldn't have appointed him had he known the full story. "
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