Exclusive: Has Keir Starmer made a huge mistake in sacking Olly Robbins over Mandelson vetting?

PoliticsOpinion
18 Apr 2026 • 1:43 AM MYT
The Independent
The Independent

The world’s most free-thinking newspaper

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There’s a new development in the Mandelson-Epstein-Starmer scandal – and as usual, it raises more questions over No. 10’s dealings than it answers.

Ex-deputy cabinet secretary Helen MacNamara and former No 10 special advisor Cleo Watson, hosts of In The Room, have already examined Starmer’s obsession with ‘process’ and combed through the (ahem, somewhat disappointing) first Mandelson tranche.

Now, they’re back to break down the newest revelations about Mandelson’s failed security vetting: Why did the Foreign Office overrule it? How do these processes actually work? And could sacking Olly Robbins shape up to be Starmer’s biggest mistake?

For more on Mandelson, listen to episode 2: Mandelson and Starmer: Is the HR process to blame? and episode 4: Definitive guide to Mandelson files: All filler, no killer? of In The Room. New episodes drop every Friday on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, and YouTube.

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