Who is Olly Robbins? The mandarin sacked by Starmer over Mandelson vetting scandal

The Oxford-educated 51-year-old was a central figure behind former prime minister Theresa May’s troubled Brexit deal and was consistently criticised for his role in negotiations, as well as by Eurosceptics for thwarting the process.

He took charge of negotiations with the EU mid-way through talks, after then-Brexit secretary David Davis was sidelined because of a lack of progress, but the deal was rejected repeatedly by the Commons.

Before his Brexit fame, he had worked for every prime minister since Sir Tony Blair and was known as a highly influential but low-profile civil servant.

The public schoolboy went straight from studying politics, philosophy and economics at Oxford to the Treasury in 1996, where he rose steadily through the ranks until he was approached by Sir Tony to become his principal private secretary.

After the 2010 general election, then-prime minister David Cameron made Sir Olly deputy national security adviser, where he was responsible for intelligence, security and resilience.

In this role he negotiated with The Guardian on how to limit its reporting of material leaked by former US intelligence contractor Edward Snowden, which included classified documents relating to the CIA and GCHQ.

He left government in 2019, before Boris Johnson took office, and worked for Goldman Sachs as a managing director of the bank’s investment banking division, and for Hakluyt, a global strategic advisory firm.

He was made a Knight Commander of the Order of Saint Michael and Saint George, an honour given for extraordinary services abroad, in Baroness May’s resignation honours.

Sir Keir Starmer brought Sir Olly back into Government by appointing him head of the Foreign Office in January 2025.

He had been in the job just three weeks when the decision regarding Lord Mandelson was made.

The Prime Minister fired Sir Olly from his role as the department’s top official after finding out last week that Lord Mandelson had been granted security clearance to become UK ambassador to the US despite failing the checks.

Sir Keir blamed the former senior civil servant for “deliberately” keeping him in the dark over the vetting.

On Tuesday, Sir Olly faced questions from the Foreign Affairs Committee over the scandal and defended his actions, saying he does not “reflect negatively” on his own judgment or that of his colleagues.

He insisted that only the final outcome of the vetting process – which was that Lord Mandelson was granted security clearance – should be shared with ministers, rather than the concerns raised.

Sir Olly also told the committee he does not “fully understand” the reasons why he was sacked and is “desperately, desperately sad” about it.

“I love that job, I love that institution, I was proud to serve this Government and any government that might follow it,” he said.

“I just feel intensely proud of the people I’ve led and I wish them every success, and wish I could still be with them.”