Ian Collard: the Foreign Office insider who may be key to Mandelson scandal

Olly Robbins’ meeting with Collard resulted in Mandelson’s security clearance, which is now under intense scrutiny His name was only mentioned twice – and the meeting he had with Olly Robbins may have only lasted 10 minutes. But Ian Collard is a central – and perhaps the key – figure in the scandal over how Peter Mandelson ended up receiving the security clearance to become Britain’s ambassador in Washington. According to Robbins’s evidence to the foreign affairs committee on Tuesday, it was Collard, head of the estates, security and network directorate in the Foreign Office, who gave him an oral briefing on 29 January 2025. Robbins explained Collard had been having a “live dialogue” about Mandelson with the separate UK Security Vetting (UKSV) team, based in the Cabinet Office. Collard had then asked to speak to Robbins for what turned out to be a critical meeting: it concluded with Mandelson being granted vetting clearance. What Collard said to Robbins during those few minutes is now the focus of great scrutiny. Robbins said to MPs he was told by Collard that officials in UKSV, who had interviewed Mandelson twice, had concluded he was a “borderline” case and were “leaning towards