Starmer’s No. 10 Sought Ambassador Role for Ex Comms Chief

Keir Starmer’s office tried to secure an ambassadorial role for his former communications chief Matthew Doyle, former top civil servant Olly Robbins said in a revelation that’s likely to pile further tricky questions on the prime minister about political influence in the Foreign Office.

Robbins was speaking during an evidence session Tuesday morning centered on his decision to approve Peter Mandelson to the US ambassadorship. After telling the panel that he’d faced political pressure to clear Mandelson, he was asked whether any other political appointees had been proposed by the government to roles normally taken by career diplomats.