𝓤𝓷𝓲𝓽𝓮𝓭 𝓝𝓮𝔀𝓼

Foreign Secretary Yvette Cooper insisted a former Labour adviser with links to a sex offender should never have been considered for an ambassadorial post – even though Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer was the one apparently behind the job proposal. She issued a blunt response after it emerged Matthew Doyle, the former head of communications in 10 Dowing Street, was lined up for a senior diplomatic role.

Sir Olly Robbins, the former boss of the foreign office, told a House of Commons committee that Downing Street wanted to hand Lord Doyle a plush ambassadorial position. This was before it emerged that Doyle had continued his association with a man charged with possessing indecent images of children, even after charges were brought. Ms Cooper told MPs that Lord Doyle would not have been an “appropriate” choice for the role. She told MPs that she was “extremely concerned” that the foreign office had withheld such information from the Foreign Secretary at the time.

The stunning revelation came out of a committee meeting in Westminster at which the recently sacked Sir Olly was laying out his side of the Lord Peter Mandelson vetting scandal. Speaking after the event the foreign secretary, Yvette

Sir Keir is facing mounting pressure to resign after it emerged that Lord Mandelson had not passed his security vetting before taking up his political appointment as US Ambassador. The Prime Minister has claimed that he did not know about the failure, and proceeded to sack Sir Olly and lay the blame at the now-former Mandarin’s feet.

But today Sir Olly revealed that Downing Street had tried to line up Lord Doyle for a plush ambassadorial post. Speaking before a committee today Sir Olly said that he had “felt quite uncomfortable” about the suggestion, which he was asked to keep from then-foreign secretary David Lammy, and had warned that it would be “hard for me personally to defend”.

The former permanent secretary of the foreign office said that the suggestion had come shortly after he took over leading the Foreign Office in January2025, at a time when top diplomats were at risk of losing their jobs as part of departmental restructuring discussions, he said. He was speaking to MPs at the Foreign Affairs Committee. Sir Olly said there were “several discussions initiated by No 10 with me” about potentially “finding a head of mission opportunity for Matthew Doyle”.

“I was under strict instruction not to discuss that with the then-foreign secretary, which was uncomfortable,” he revealed. The former senior civil servant said he was unsure “who exactly was behind” the suggestion or “how serious it was”.

“I found it very hard to think how I would explain to the office what the credentials of Matthew were to be in an important head of mission role when I was in danger of making very senior, very experienced diplomats leave the office,” he said.

Disgraced peer Lord Mandelson was also asked about the prospect of a role in Washington for Lord Doyle, Sir Olly suggested. “I think subsequently, or maybe simultaneously, Mandelson was asked about whether there was a job that could be made available in the US network,” he told MPs.

“And so I think the fact that No 10 was interested in potential diplomatic options for Doyle was probably a bit more broadly known than I realised at the time.”

Lord Doyle had the Labour whip withdrawn earlier this year after it emerged he had campaigned on behalf of a friend who had been charged with possessing indecent images of children. The peer apologised for backing then councillor Sean Morton before the case against him had concluded, saying he believed the paedophile’s assertions of innocence before Morton later admitted the offending.

He had stepped down as the Prime Minister’s communications chief last March.