Liverpool MP criticises sacking of Foreign Office chief as “plain wrong”

A Liverpool MP has criticised Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer’s decision to sack Sir Olly Robbins, characterising it as “plain wrong”.

Dan Carden, MP for Liverpool Walton and a member of the Foreign Affairs Select Committee, made the comments on X a day after Sir Olly’s bombshell evidence to the committee.

Sir Olly, the former chief civil servant at the Foreign Office, was sacked on Friday after details came to light of his role in approving the vetting for Peter Mandelson.

However, when asked by Mr Carden why he was sacked from his role, Sir Olly said: “I don’t fully understand why.”

Meanwhile, a Liverpool-based expert in British politics has said that Sir Keir will begin to face fractures in the Parliamentary Labour Party quite soon.

Dr Paul Anderson, a senior lecturer in International Relations and Politics at Liverpool John Moores University, told Mersey News Live: “Up until this point, Labour, despite u-turns, that the parliamentary party were perhaps trying to get back behind the Prime Minister, I think that might be unravelling.

“I think the big test will come after the elections in May.”

On the upcoming local elections being an existential threat to Sir Keir’s leadership, Dr Anderson said: “I think it will be a significant turning point in his premiership.”

His comments came before Leader of the Opposition Kemi Badenoch called for the Prime Minister to resign over the scandal surrounding Peter Mandelson.

She also accused the Prime Minister of lobbying for a job for Lord Matthew Doyle, who was suspended from the Labour Party due to his friendship with a person charged with possessing indecent images.

Ms Badenoch said: “He promised them probity. What he’s given them is cronyism and an old boy’s club where Matthew Doyle is being proposed as an ambassador.”

She continued: “The Prime Minister did not follow the process the Cabinet Secretary set out in November 2024. Will the Prime Minister finally take responsibility and go?”

The Prime Minister remains under pressure, and the Foreign Affairs Select Committee has summoned his former chief of staff, Morgan McSweeney, to appear before them next Tuesday.

Dame Emily Thornberry MP, chair of the committee, confirmed McSweeney’s appearance in an X post.

Featured image by Michael Peat, available under creative commons licence.