Senior civil servants vent their anger at ‘totally unfair’ dismissal

Former ethics chief says ‘chucking people under a bus’ is not in the national interest

- Rachel Sylvester Political editor

Keir Starmer is facing a furious civil service backlash to his decision to sack Olly Robbins, the former permanent secretary at the Foreign Office, over his handling of the appointment of Peter Mandelson as British ambassador to Washington.

Helen MacNamara, the former director general for propriety and ethics in Downing Street and deputy cabinet secretary, said Robbins had been “totally unfairly treated” and had done nothing wrong.

“I think he was trying to do what the prime minister wanted,” she told The Observer. “It’s bad to fire civil servants for the prime minister’s judgment. The problem is the fallout from the appointment of Peter Mandelson as ambassador. There aren’t many people as good as Olly in Whitehall so how can it be in the national interest that he gets fired for this?”

She warned of a chilling effect on the civil service which would undermine the effectiveness of the government. “If, as soon as there's any sign of trouble, people get chucked under the bus that’s going to make civil servants more risk-averse, cautious, less likely to want to put their head above the parapet. That’s bad for the country because you need bold, creative, confident public servants to deliver change.”

On Friday the prime minister accused Robbins of an “unforgivable” failure to warn him that Mandelson had failed his security vetting. But MacNamara said it was unlikely there was anything improper in Robbins’ decision to grant clearance to Mandelson against the advice of UK Security Vetting, the Cabinet Office team that carries out extensive checks on appointments to sensitive roles.