Security Vetting

Lord Garnier Excerpts

Monday 20th April 2026 Lords Chamber

[Lord Garnier (Con)]

My Lords, I am grateful to the Leader of the House for her repetition of the Statement made by the Prime Minister earlier. I went to the other place to listen to the Prime Minister, and I have listened again to what the noble Baroness has had to say this afternoon. I find it impossible to work out, from both the original Statement and the repetition, why on earth the Prime Minister wanted this man to be the ambassador in the United States in the first place. Every dog and cat in the street knew that Lord Mandelson was a wrong ’un. What went wrong?

[Baroness Smith of Basildon (Lab)]

The Prime Minister said that he made a wrong decision, but I have to say to the noble and learned Lord that the number of people who praised the decision at the time and then criticised it later is quite surprising. Yes, all evidence shows now that this was the wrong candidate for the job, but part of that would have been exposed had this process been more open and transparent for Ministers. If they had had more information, we may have seen a different outcome.