King’s Speech

Lord McDonald of Salford Excerpts

Thursday 21st May 2026 Lords Chamber

[Lord McDonald of Salford (CB)]

My Lords, my speech will be rather different.

Giovanni Spadolini was Italy’s Prime Minister in September 1982, when I joined the Foreign Office. In the following 10 years, Italy had seven different Prime Ministers. Italy was less effective on the international stage as a consequence. In the UK, 10 years ago our Prime Minister was the noble Lord, Lord Cameron of Chipping Norton. It looks increasingly likely that, in the next few weeks, the UK will have its seventh Prime Minister in a decade. The UK is seen as less serious on the international stage when we are not serious at home. Across the board, our reputation is taking a knock in some areas that have traditionally defined the United Kingdom: political stability, policy consistency, strategic clarity and fair play. I will give one example on the last of those.

Late on 15 April, the Guardian splashed the story that Lord Mandelson had failed his security vetting before going as ambassador to Washington. Within 24 hours, in time for the evening news, the Prime Minister dismissed Sir Olly Robbins, Permanent Secretary at the Foreign Office. In the UK, Prime Ministers do not dismiss Permanent Secretaries without process and without cause. This being without process is demonstrated by the very compressed timeline; it being without cause is becoming obvious through the continuing investigation of the House of Commons Foreign Affairs Committee, to which Sir Olly gave compelling evidence. Sir Olly was the victim of an injustice, which can and should be corrected.

It is not all bleak on the international stage for the United Kingdom. In some areas, the UK continues to be world leading or world beating. Our soft power is intact. Right now, exemplary work is being done in British courts, theatres, film studios, football clubs—I congratulate Aston Villa—and universities. I am the master of Christ’s College, Cambridge, which last year won its fifth Nobel prize. Right now at Christ’s, a post-doc is developing, with his brilliant professor, a blood test for the very early detection of multiple cancers. Their work is hampered by restrictions on foreign medical samples coming into British laboratories. They understand the need for regulation, but their contention is that it is unnecessarily restrictive. I appreciate that this is the first time this has been mentioned today and that this is a rather technical subject, but I will write to the Minister and urge His Majesty’s Government to help, please.