Truss has 'no sympathy for Starmer' over Mandelson vetting row while blasting Civil Service

The former PM has used the controversy to renew her attack on the Civil Service and what she described as a “dysfunctional” British state The former PM says she has "no sympathy" for Starmer over the Mandelson vetting row. Picture: Getty Liz Truss has said she has “no sympathy” for Sir Keir Starmer over the Mandelson vetting row, using the controversy to renew her attack on the Civil Service and what she described as a “dysfunctional” British state. In a post on X, the former prime minister said “the bureaucrats are in charge and withhold information all the time”, arguing that the episode showed how unelected officials wield too much power within government. She claimed the wider system was "dysfunctional" and said the media was only now beginning to understand the scale of the problem.Truss also launched a personal attack on the PM, accusing Starmer of dishonesty and blaming him – along with former Labour leaders Tony Blair and Gordon Brown – for creating what she called the “unaccountable albatross” of the modern state.Her intervention comes as scrutiny intensifies over Mandelson’s vetting and the handling of information in Whitehall, with critics using the row to raise broader questions about the balance of power between ministers and officials.Read more: Keir Starmer must quit over Lord Mandelson row, says Scotland's First MinisterRead more: Olly Robbins has been ‘thrown under the bus’, says former Foreign Office chief It follows the release a document by Downing Street which revealed Sir Keir Starmer was “not aware” that the Foreign Office had granted Peter Mandelson clearance to become US ambassador, despite failing vetting, until Tuesday night.A readout of the meeting, published by No.10 on Friday, was sent by the Prime Minister's Principal Private Secretary, Dan York-Smith, following the meeting on Tuesday.The meeting is understood to have involved the Cabinet Secretary, Dame Antonia Romeo, and the Cabinet Office's permanent secretary, Catherine Little.A report in the Guardian has claimed that Ms Romeo and Ms Little were aware of the recommendation to not clear Mandelson as early as March. An investigation published by The Guardian has revealed that Peter Mandelson failed security vetting clearance before he took up the post as US ambassador, but that the decision was overruled by the UK Foreign Office. Picture: Getty The Cabinet Office has hit back at the reports, claiming the delay between them learning about the vetting issues and informing the Prime Minister was due to "expedited checks" being undertaken.The document says that Ms Little learned of the recommendation that then-Lord Mandelson should not be granted Developed Vetting (DV) when reviewing his file as part of the Government’s response to Parliament's order to release the files related to his appointment.Downing Street released the email on Friday as part of attempts to prove that the Prime Minister was not aware of Mandelson not being recommended to be cleared when he told the Commons that he had been vetted properly. In a post on X, the former prime minister said “the bureaucrats are in charge and withhold information all the time”. Picture: Getty The email read: “As part of the humble address process, that file had been shared with Cat. On reviewing the file she had therefore learned that the recommendation from the vetting officer had been that DV should not be granted to Peter Mandelson. “There is some discretion for departments to proceed with clearance and the FCDO had exercised it in this case, granting Mandelson vetting clearance. Cat had not seen the audit trail for this decision so we did not yet know on what basis the decision had been taken, contrary to the recommendation.“The PM was not aware of any of this before the meeting, including that it was even possible to grant clearance against the advice of UKSV. The Foreign Office's top civil servant will be leaving his post after it emerged the department had overruled a security vetting process to clear Mandelson to become UK ambassador to the US. Picture: Alamy “There is no evidence that the decision to grant DV despite the UKSV advice had been disclosed to anyone outside FCDO and UKSV before the document was shared with CO to comply with the humble address.”Speaking from Paris on Friday, the PM branded it "staggering" and "unacceptable" that he was not made aware that Lord Mandelson had failed checks ahead of the appointment."I was not told that he had failed security vetting, no minister was told... Number 10 wasn't told, that is completely unacceptable," he told the media.This morning, Number 10 claimed that no minister had been told that Mandelson had failed vetting for the role, laying blame at the door of the Foreign Office.As a result, top Foreign Office civil servant Olly Robbins was removed from his post after previously holding the role of chief Brexit negotiator from 2017 to 2019.

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