Sacked by Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer last week, today the former top Foreign Office civil servant Sir Olly Robbins has broken his silence.
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He told a committee of MPs that Downing Street had piled pressure on the Foreign Office to fast-track Peter Mandelson's appointment as Ambassador to the US.
He said he had followed all the rules when he agreed to his vetting clearance, even though security officials were "leaning against" recommending it and admitted he thought he had been made a scapegoat.
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