Sir Keir Starmer’s Downing Street operation covertly attempted to secure a senior ambassadorial posting for a peer who was later suspended from the Labour Party over links to a convicted child sex offender, while instructing the Foreign Office’s most senior official to conceal the plan from the Foreign Secretary, a parliamentary committee has heard.
Sir Olly Robbins, dismissed last week as the Foreign Office’s permanent under-secretary amid the escalating Mandelson vetting scandal, told the Foreign Affairs Committee on Monday that Number 10’s private office contacted him in March 2025 to find a “head of mission” diplomatic role for Lord Doyle — formerly Matthew Doyle, Sir Keir’s one-time director of communications. The request, Sir Olly said, came with a striking condition attached: he was placed under “strict instruction” not to discuss it with then-Foreign Secretary David Lammy.
Sir Olly told MPs he found the situation deeply uncomfortable from the outset. He did not consider Lord Doyle qualified for a senior diplomatic appointment, and the request arrived at a moment when the Foreign Office was actively restructuring and making experienced career diplomats redundant — making the push for a political ally to be handed a prestigious posting all the more difficult to justify internally.
The committee further heard that Number 10 had separately asked Lord Mandelson — then serving as US Ambassador despite having failed security vetting — to explore whether a position could be identified for Doyle within the British Embassy in Washington.
Lord Doyle was elevated to the peerage in January 2026 as part of a resignation honours list. The appointment quickly became controversial. In February, he was suspended from the Labour Party after it emerged he had campaigned on behalf of Sean Morton, a former councillor who had been charged with child sex offences. Sir Keir subsequently acknowledged that Lord Doyle had “not given a full account” of his relationship with Morton when the peerage was being considered.
The disclosure lands at the worst possible moment for the Prime Minister. Starmer is already battling accusations that he misled Parliament over Lord Mandelson’s appointment as US ambassador, a process in which security officials recommended against granting clearance and the Foreign Office’s objections were effectively overruled. Sir Olly, who was publicly blamed by the Prime Minister for the Mandelson failure, has since retained lawyers and is widely expected to pursue legal action over his dismissal.
Taken together, the two cases have raised serious questions about a pattern of conduct in Downing Street — one in which significant public and diplomatic appointments appear to have been driven personally by the Prime Minister’s office, bypassing normal processes and, in at least one instance, deliberately excluding the minister with formal responsibility for the decision.
Downing Street had not responded to requests for comment at the time of publication.
