U.K., Oct. 16 -- UK Parliament issued the following news:

The Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO) has welcomed a conversation with the Foreign Affairs Committee about how a novel process for pre-appointment scrutiny of political appointees to Head of Mission roles would work, the Government has said in response to the Committee's report into the appointment of Peter Mandelson as British Ambassador to the United States .

In a letter to Ed Miliband, the Foreign Secretary, the Committee asks the FCDO to nominate a working group of officials to start a discussion to determine the details of the new process. The Committee asks the Foreign Secretary to send the Committee his nominated names by 22 October.

The Government response agrees with a number of the Committee’s recommendations. It states that any name proposed for a direct ministerial appointment by the Foreign Secretary or Prime Minister will be shared with the FCDO Permanent Under-Secretary (PUS) and the FCDO will conduct an open-source due diligence exercise. Any potential risks will then be discussed with the candidate, and the FCDO PUS will advise Ministers on management or mitigation.

It confirms that the due diligence reports into direct appointments will be shared at an appropriate level and with the hiring department, which will be given the opportunity to contribute fully to the due diligence process.

The Government does not respond to the Committee’s recommendations on the National Security Vetting (NSV) system and defers to the upcoming report by Sir Adrian Fulford.

Chair comment

Chair of the Foreign Affairs Committee, Dame Emily Thornberry, said:

“I am grateful for the Government’s response to my Committee’s report on the appointment of Peter Mandelson as British Ambassador to the United States.

“It is essential that the Government learns the right lessons from the disastrous appointment of Peter Mandelson. This appointment was highly damaging to the UK’s standing globally, and painful and offensive for the victims of Jeffrey Epstein.

“We are sticking to our guns. We should have been able to question Peter Mandelson before his appointment. If we had been given that chance, he might not have been given the job.

“In today’s response, the Foreign Office committed to starting a conversation on a novel process to allow enhanced scrutiny of political appointments to Head of Mission posts. Good. Government should be willing to work with Parliament to solve problems and should place accountability and transparency at the heart of public life. My Committee is inviting the Foreign Secretary to nominate officials to work alongside Committee clerks to form a working group, to determine what this new approach will look like. Let’s see if we can work this out together.

“I quite understand that the Government does not want to get ahead of Sir Adrian Fulford in his review of security vetting processes, but I don’t really understand what the holdup is. Perhaps the Government could tell us when they plan to publish his review.”

Further information

About Parliament: Select committees

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Image: Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office

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