Morgan McSweeney has denied exerting “improper” pressure on the Foreign Office or swearing at its chief to speed up the appointment of Lord Peter Mandelson as UK ambassador to the United States. The former No 10 chief of staff, who left Downing Street in February over the scandal, told the Foreign Affairs Committee he did not swear at Sir Philip Barton, the then-permanent secretary, despite suggestions he had urged him to “just f****** approve it”.
McSweeney admits error but not full responsibility
Sir Keir Starmer’s former key aide said he was “wrong” to advise the Prime Minister to send Lord Mandelson to Washington, describing it as “a serious error of judgment” that would haunt him “for the rest of my life”. However, he stopped short of taking full responsibility, telling MPs “it was the Prime Minister’s decision”. He stressed that the system “shouldn’t be reliant on just one adviser giving a bad piece of advice” and argued that he relied on information presented to him.
Denial of improper pressure
Mr McSweeney denied wanting the ex-Labour minister to be granted security clearance “at all costs”. He said: “What I did not do was oversee national security vetting, ask officials to ignore procedures, request that steps should be skipped, or communicate explicitly or implicitly that checks should be cleared at all costs.” He acknowledged that No 10’s job was to ensure the Prime Minister’s decisions were acted on quickly but insisted there was a “real difference between asking people to act at pace and asking people to lower standards”.
Appointment process and alternatives
Mr McSweeney said two strong candidates were procured: Lord Mandelson and George Osborne, the former chancellor. He told the Prime Minister both were “appointable” and could not recall anyone saying Lord Mandelson was not appointable. He also noted that Sir Keir would not have chosen Lord Mandelson if Kamala Harris had won the US election. The former chief of staff suggested that the announcement before vetting was completed “didn’t jump out to me as a problem”, but admitted the Government would have withdrawn the ambassadorship if Lord Mandelson had failed developed vetting. No contingency plan was in place for that possibility.
Rejection of mentor claims
Mr McSweeney dismissed portrayals of Lord Mandelson as his “mentor”, calling it “mythos” and saying “he is some sort of guiding hand behind me and my strategies or my life is not the case”.
