Morgan McSweeney, Keir Starmer’s former chief of staff, to be questioned by MPs

Exclusive: McSweeney summoned by foreign affairs select committee in rare step, as Mandelson vetting row continues Morgan McSweeney is facing a showdown with MPs who will grill him on whether he placed extreme pressure on the Foreign Office to approve Peter Mandelson as ambassador. The prime minister’s former chief of staff will be questioned next Tuesday by the foreign affairs select committee over allegations made by the former Foreign Office permanent secretary Olly Robbins, who said No 10 had questioned why Mandelson should be subject to any vetting. Robbins, who was sacked by Keir Starmer after the Guardian revealed formal vetting concerns were overruled, said there had been a “dismissive” attitude from Downing Street towards security vetting. McSweeney will be asked by MPs to also respond to allegations by Robbins that another ambassadorial post was sought for Starmer’s outgoing communications chief Matthew Doyle, who was later made a peer. McSweeney, who left No 10 in February, has been adamant he did not know that Mandelson had failed his security vetting, which was then overridden by the Foreign Office. It is highly unusual for Downing Street chiefs of staff to app