Security Vetting

Lord Kennedy of Southwark Excerpts

Monday 20th April 2026 Lords Chamber

[Baroness Smith of Basildon (Lab)]

It is a failure of good governance, in that there should be information made available to Ministers who are taking decisions. The fact that it was not made available is, as the Prime Minister said, extraordinary. Sir Chris Wormald has reviewed the process that was taken and it was correct. I will correct the noble Lord, Lord Purvis, who said that Peter Mandelson did not getting vetting approval. The whole point is that he was given vetting approval; that is why people are quite astounded by this. The UK Security Vetting form—which is on the Government website for people to see—has two blocks; there is green, amber and red; and it has what the issues are and then what the recommendation is. The recommendation on that was not to give vetting, but the Foreign Office made the decision that it could pass the vetting.

It is one of those things that is a recommendation, but the vetting was then granted by the Foreign Office, so he was granted that vetting. No one could imagine that, with that information—when the Prime Minister and other Ministers are being asked and they are given the information that he has had the vetting—somebody did not flag that concerns were raised and that the recommendation was not to grant that vetting. The Prime Minister apologised for the appointment of Peter Mandelson, but in this case I think he is quite right to be angry and concerned that he was not informed of the red flags that were raised.

I was asked about what Olly Robbins did wrong. It may be that he lost the confidence of Ministers by quite clearly not giving the information. In terms of the process that was available, I think most of us think that there is an issue of judgment in how Ministers and officials would deal with information they are given. He had lost the confidence of the Prime Minister and the Foreign Secretary. But I find it hard to believe that anybody in this House who had had that information would have considered it appropriate not to provide that information to the Prime Minister and other Ministers who were making the decisions.

This has been difficult. It is a difficult way forward for the Government, but the Prime Minister’s decisions on changing the process so that we do not have such a process in future—it should be absolutely clear that due diligence and vetting have been passed before any appointment is announced—would be a more sensible way forward. The review that Sir Adrian Fulford is taking forward should shine a light on this and look for a better way forward.

[Captain of the Honourable Corps of Gentlemen-at-Arms and Chief Whip (Lord Kennedy of Southwark) (Lab Co-op)]

My Lords, we now move on to up to 20 minutes of Back-Bench questions. This is set out in the Companion, in chapter 6, pages 86 and 87—paragraphs 6.7 and 6.8. The first question will come from the Conservative Benches.