'He would never, ever have appointed him as ambassador' David Lammy backs Keir Starmer over Lord Mandelson vetting scandal

"I have absolutely no doubt at all, knowing the PM as I do, that had he known that Peter Mandelson had not passed the vetting, he would never, ever have appointed him ambassador", he told The Guardian.

The intervention represents Mr Lammy's first public remarks on the affair as Downing Street has rallied to defend the Prime Minister ahead of a crunch week in his premiership following the latest twists in the scandal.

Mr Lammy described the failure to inform Downing Street about the vetting outcome as "inexplicable".

The Deputy Prime Minister recounted the dramatic moment he first learned of the situation while aboard a military aircraft returning from the Middle East.

He was summoned to the cockpit mid-flight, where the captain informed him that Downing Street required an urgent conversation via radio.

Mr Lammy said: "That obviously felt dramatic and serious and unexpected, That was the first time I had heard this."

When pressed on whether he or his team had received any information about Lord Mandelson's vetting during his time running the Foreign Office, Mr Lammy was emphatic in his denial.

He said: "No. And let me just be absolutely clear, in the years in which I have been both in this Government and the last Government, I have never had any official talk to me about vetting, or the detail of vetting, so I would remember if this had ever been raised with me."

However, former foreign secretary Sir James Cleverly has cast significant doubt on these claims, arguing it is "inconceivable" that senior ministers remained uninformed.

Drawing on his own tenure at the Foreign Office from 2022 to 2023, Sir James told The Independent that officials would invariably brief ministers about such sensitive matters.

Sir James said: "I cannot envisage a universe where someone senior in the Foreign Office wouldn't have sat down with the foreign secretary and said something to warn about this."

He maintained that the Government's account was "just not credible", suggesting that with political appointments, foreign secretaries are explicitly warned they are personally assuming considerable risk.

"This is why I think David Lammy may have even more problems than Keir Starmer," Sir James added.

A source close to the Deputy Prime Minister dismissed the criticism as "odd" given all parties have confirmed ministers were not informed.

Mr Lammy acknowledged that pressure had mounted on the Foreign Office to finalise Lord Mandelson's appointment swiftly as Donald Trump prepared to return to the White House in January.

"There was a feeling that obviously Trump had won the election in November, he was moving into the White House, and it would be good if we had an ambassador. So there was some time pressures around that I recall at the time," he explained.

Despite the controversy surrounding Sir Oliver Robbins, who was forced out of his position this week, Mr Lammy spoke warmly of the former permanent secretary.

Having appointed Sir Oliver to the role in January 2025, the Deputy Prime Minister described him as an "outstanding" civil servant.

"I don't know what happened in this circumstance. I'm surprised and shocked by it. He was only a few weeks into the job," Mr Lammy added.

He conceded that next month's local elections were already shaping up to be difficult for Labour before the Mandelson affair resurfaced, with polling suggesting harsh results across the country.

"It feels to me like these are tough midterm elections," he said, noting that voters remained anxious about living costs and the state of public services.

The Deputy Prime Minister expressed frustration that the scandal had returned to dominate headlines when the public faced more immediate concerns.

"Clearly the fallout of Peter Mandelson's behaviour and the decision to appoint him has rumbled on for months and months and months," Mr Lammy observed.

"I regret that this is back again in the news when actually most people are worried about petrol prices, how the closure of the strait of Hormuz and the war in Iran is going to affect them."