Ex-Foreign Office boss launches legal challenge after being fired by Starmer over Mandelson scandal

The former top Foreign Office civil servant who was sacked by Sir Keir Starmer over the Peter Mandelson scandal has launched a legal challenge.

Sir Olly Robbins was blamed by the prime minister for failing to tell him Lord Mandelson had not passed vetting to become Britain’s ambassador to the US.

In a statement on Monday, his union confirmed he had requested a Judicial Review of his dismissal as permanent under-secretary of the FCDO.

Sir Olly said: “I bring this action reluctantly. It would have been unnecessary if the prime minister had simply apologised for his mistake and made amends for the distress and cost it has caused me and my family.

“Instead, I now have to ask the Courts to determine that the prime minister’s decisions were unlawful, unreasonable and to quash them.”

In his submission to the court, Sir Olly argues that there “was no fair procedure” involved in his dismissal, and that the reasons given for being sacked were “irrational”,

He also claimed that the prime minister “has no statutory authority to dismiss the head of the diplomatic service”.

The FDA union called on Sir Keir to admit sacking Sir Olly was a mistake, and claimed the firing was “based on a grievous misunderstanding of how the National Security Vetting (NSV) system worked and a rash response to a media story”.

Sir Olly was dismissed by the PM and accused of failing to tell him Lord Mandelson, who was later fired over his friendship with Jeffrey Epstein, had not passed vetting for the role of ambassador to the US.

Asked in the House of Commons whether he had sought an explanation from Sir Olly, Sir Keir told MPs: “I did ask him, and I did not accept his explanation. That is why I sacked him.”

But allies of Sir Olly say he was fired without even being asked to explain his handling of the saga, The Independent revealed in April.

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