𝓤𝓷𝓲𝓽𝓮𝓭 𝓝𝓮𝔀𝓼

A civil servant given the boot by Sir Keir Starmer could be in line for a payout so large “it will make your eyes bleed”. According to Whitehall sources the former foreign office Mandarin Sir Olly Robbins would have a strong argument for wrongful or unfair dismissal after Sir Keir binned him and attempted to pin the blame for the Mandelson vetting scandal on the civil service.

Sir Keir is facing huge pressure from Parliament over his claim that “due process” was followed in the appointment of the now-disgraced grandee, Lord Peter Mandelson, to the post of US Ambassador. He was later sacked after further information about his relationship with the American criminal-financier Jeffrey Epstein came to light. But today it emerged that Sir Olly could be in line for a payout of up to £1 million.

Downing Street’s headache only worsened after it emerged this morning in newspaper reports that No10 had been informed about additional allegations regarding the peer and the pedophile by the NCA in Spring 2024.

Sir Keir would appoint the peer regardless, and sensational text messages reported in a UK magazine today even revealed that the Prime Minister has told Lord Mandelson that he was “really looking forward” to “working side by side” with him, the night before he made the announcement about his plumb Washington gig.

According to reports, the message was buried in a slew of documents that Cabinet Office officials have been collating after MPs demanded the release of the so-called Mandelson Files.

It emerged last week that Lord Mandelson had not ‘passed’ his security vetting, with the services advising he was not granted the highest level of clearance.

Sir Olly Robbins was blamed for not telling the Prime Minister about this failure, as Sir Keir faced demands to resign in disgrace made by the leaders of each major party in opposition.

He has even faced calls from some of his own MPs, and as reported in a major UK newspaper, by an unnamed cabinet member.

But senior officials speaking to The Spectator have said that the decision to give Sir Olly the red card was “a disgraceful plan to demolish a public servant”.

A retired official even told the magazine that Sir Keir later calling Sir Olly a “dedicated” public servant was like “handing him a plster” after the PM “machine-gunned his legs and his arms off”.

In 2020 the former mandarin Philip Rutnam was paid £370,000 after being forced out of the Home office. Experts believe the decision to oust Sir Olly could be even more expensive – he could expect even more. “We’re looking at half a million quid minimum to make this go away,” said one serving official.

It is the opinion of other Whitehall sources that the sum could be even high – perhaps even double. “Olly was earning a million a year in the private sector,” a friend of Sir Olly told The Spectator, adding: “He is a younger man, his loss of future earnings is higher and the price for the reputational damage is huge.”