Appointing a diplomat who failed security vetting is a massive breach of national security, and the claim that nobody told Downing Street strains all credibility. The Foreign Office unilaterally overrode the vetting process without consulting the PM — and that explanation simply doesn't hold up. A government that either knew and lied or didn't know and failed to govern has no business staying in power.
The PM was not informed by the Foreign Office that Mandelson's vetting had been overridden — ministers are barred from seeing vetting documents as a matter of principle. Once the facts came to light, the government moved fast: stripping Mandelson of his privy council status, reforming diplomatic appointment rules and pushing new legislation to remove disgraced peers. That's accountability in action, not a cover-up.
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