How does Keir Starmer recover from the Olly Robbins bombshell?

The News Agents

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Tuesday, 21 April 2026 - 44 minutes

Olly Robbins - the foreign office top civil servant fired by Keir Starmer on Thursday - gave his version of events today. He described an atmosphere of immense pressure over the Peter Mandelson appointment and suggested Downing Street weren’t that interested in the vetting process at all.

Was he bullied into giving Mandelson the job? Was Starmer right to sack Robbins? And why was he hunting for another ambassadorial role for another friend of another paedophile? It’s all getting silly.

We talk to the chair of the committee Emily Thornberry about what she just heard.

The News Agents is brought to you by HSBC UK Beyond Business Ownership - https://grp.hsbc/BeyondBusinessOwnership

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