Mitigating Mandelson risks would have been impossible, says former MI6 chief

Security officials recommended denying developed vetting clearance for Peter Mandelson in early 2025 due to concerns about his associations with senior figures in China, Russia, and Israel. UK Security Vetting flagged links to Lan Fo'an, Oleg Deripaska, and Tamir Hayman, and also noted a close relationship with a British individual that could be compromising. A further concern involved a £1 million loan Mandelson received to invest in an Israeli startup. Despite UKSV’s recommendation, the Foreign Office granted clearance shortly afterward, citing management actions to mitigate risks. Richard Dearlove said he could not see how such mitigations could work in practice, arguing that restricting access to circulated papers would be impossible.

"A former head of MI6 has said it would have been totally impossible for the Foreign Office to put in place mitigations to manage Peter Mandelson's associations with senior figures in China, Russia and Israel when he was the UK's ambassador to the US. On Wednesday, the Guardian revealed some of the concerns that contributed to security officials recommending that Mandelson be denied developed vetting clearance in early 2025. Olly Robbins, the former permanent secretary who granted Mandelson clearance anyway, has said his decision was based on management actions being put in place to mitigate the risks identified by officials."

"However Richard Dearlove, who ran Britain's Secret Intelligence service, MI6, between 1999 and 2004, said he did not understand how such mitigations would work. The whole thing is completely extraordinary, he said. What mitigations could you put in place? The only mitigations I can think of is that certain papers that are circulated in the Washington embassy cannot be viewed by the ambassador. That would be totally impossible. Dearlove added: When I was head of MI6, if I'd been warned not to share papers with a minister or ambassador, I'd have asked to discuss the situation with the foreign secretary or the prime minister."

"Multiple sources have told the Guardian that Mandelson's links to China's minister of finance, Lan Fo'an, the sanctions-hit Russian oligarch Oleg Deripaska and former Israeli military intelligence general Tamir Hayman were all flagged by the government's vetting agency. They added that United Kingdom Security Vetting (UKSV) also noted Mandelson had a very close relationship with a fourth individual, who is British, that could be compromising. Another concern identified by the vetting agency, the sources said, was a 1m loan Mandelson received to invest in an Israeli startup. UKSV recommended denying Mandelson clearance, but within hours the Foreign Office granted it to him anyway."

Read at www.theguardian.com