Sacked Foreign Office chief Olly Robbins settles with the government
Sir Olly Robbins, the former head of the Foreign Office, has reached a settlement with the government over his sacking, the BBC reports. Keir Starmer dismissed him in April over the vetting of Peter Mandelson, and Robbins had applied for judicial review, a court challenge to a public body's decision. The Guardian puts the payout at six figures. The exact sum has not been published in the reports we saw. Because of the settlement, a court will not rule on whether the dismissal was lawful, and who was responsible for the vetting decision has not been resolved in public.
A judicial review would have tested the dismissal in court, and settling ends that scrutiny before any judgment. The cost falls on the taxpayer, which is why opposition parties are likely to ask what the money buys.
As a taxpayer you are funding a six-figure sum whose exact size and terms are not yet public, so watch for ministers being questioned on it. Look for whether the figure and any conditions are disclosed, since that decides how much the public learns.
A payout without a judgment leaves unanswered the question that mattered, namely who signed off the Mandelson vetting. If it is public money, the government should say what it paid for.
DailyDrop U.K. edition No. 13 · Morning · SAT., OCT. 17, 2026