Emily Thornberry, the Labour chair of the Commons foreign affairs committee, has cast doubt on claims that the decision to deny Peter Mandelson security clearance for the US ambassador role was 'borderline'. New revelations in the Guardian suggest UK Security Vetting (UKSV) raised serious concerns about Mandelson's associations with senior figures in China, Russia and Israel.
Thornberry said the latest disclosures make it 'pretty incredible' that Olly Robbins, the Foreign Office permanent secretary, described the recommendation as borderline. Robbins ultimately overruled UKSV's recommendation and approved the appointment subject to mitigations.
'It makes me very angry that the security of our country seemed to be of so little importance to those pushing for, or those being pushed to approve, the appointment of Mandelson,' Thornberry said. She also questioned why Morgan McSweeney, a Labour adviser, was 'so keen to guide his friend through completing the conflict of interest forms'.
In other political news, Reform UK's candidate for the Makerfield by-election, Robert Kenyon, has been challenged over his past comments criticising Brexit. A social media post from 2016, unearthed by the Daily Telegraph, shows Kenyon describing the Leave vote as 'absolutely bonkers' and accusing politicians of peddling 'nationalistic pish'.
Labour has demanded that Nigel Farage clarify whether Kenyon voted for Brexit, after the candidate claimed he did but the post suggests otherwise. Kenyon told the Telegraph he wrote the comments immediately after the referendum when he was 'fed up with a political elite'.
