Keir Starmer does not deny No 10 considered giving Lord Doyle diplomatic job

Sir Keir Starmer has declined to deny that Downing Street considered giving his former spin doctor a diplomatic job.

The Prime Minister said there were “often conversations about other roles” when staff leave roles “in any organisation” as he faced scrutiny over bombshell revelations from sacked official Sir Olly Robbins.

The former permanent secretary at the Foreign Office told MPs on Tuesday that No 10 had initiated discussions with him about potentially finding an ambassadorship for ex-communications chief Lord Matthew Doyle.

Sir Olly said he “felt quite uncomfortable” about the suggestion, which he was asked to keep from then-foreign secretary David Lammy, and had warned that it would be “hard for me personally to defend”.

Asked at Prime Minister’s Questions whether he could deny that Downing Street had looked at giving Lord Doyle a diplomatic position, Sir Keir said: “Matthew Doyle worked for many years in public service for me as Prime Minister and other ministers.

“When people leave roles in any organisation, there are often conversations about other roles they want to apply for, but nothing came of this.”

Tory leader Kemi Badenoch accused Sir Keir of delivering “cronyism and an old boys’ club”.

“I am amazed at the level of chuntering from Labour MPs. He promised them probity,” she told the Commons.

“What he’s given them is cronyism and an old boys’ club where Matthew Doyle is being proposed as an ambassador. It’s ridiculous.”

A spokesman for Mrs Badenoch said: “Kemi is disgusted that the Prime Minister has yet again overridden process to try and get a plum job for one of his mates, one of his mates who it has later turned out maintained support for someone who was later convicted as a paedophile.”

He added: “This just goes to show the culture within Keir Starmer’s No 10.”

Sir Olly said the proposal had come shortly after he took over leading the Foreign Office in January last year, at a time when top diplomats were at risk of losing their jobs as part of departmental restructuring discussions.

The former senior civil servant said he was unsure “who exactly was behind” the suggestion or “how serious it was”.

“I found it very hard to think how I would explain to the office what the credentials of Matthew were to be in an important head of mission role when I was in danger of making very senior, very experienced diplomats leave the office,” he said.

Former US ambassador Lord Mandelson was also asked about the prospect of a role in Washington for Lord Doyle, Sir Olly suggested.

Lord Doyle had the Labour whip withdrawn earlier this year after it emerged he had campaigned on behalf of a friend who had been charged with possessing indecent images of children.

The peer apologised for backing then councillor Sean Morton before the case against him had concluded, saying he believed the paedophile’s assertions of innocence before Morton later admitted the offending.

The row over Lord Doyle in February heightened pressure on No 10 following the Lord Mandelson scandal, which saw the former US ambassador quit Labour in the wake of new revelations about his association with Jeffrey Epstein.

It led critics to raise fresh questions about the Prime Minister’s judgment over his decision to nominate his former communications chief for a peerage last December.

Sir Keir previously said the former top aide “did not give a full account” of his ties to the paedophile councillor when he was elevated to the House of Lords.

Lord Doyle, who stepped down as the Prime Minister’s communications chief last March, said in a statement later on Tuesday he had “never sought” a head of mission, ambassador “or any equivalent leadership-type posting.”

“I was never aware of anyone speaking to the FCDO (Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office) about such a role for me,” he said.

“My desire after leaving No 10 was to stay in UK politics.”

Sir Olly was effectively fired for not telling Sir Keir that Lord Mandelson had failed vetting checks but was granted security clearance anyway with mitigations put in place.

He has said there was a “dismissive approach” towards vetting from No 10 and an “atmosphere of pressure” to get Lord Mandelson’s appointment for the top Washington posting over the line, which Downing Street has denied.