Sir Olly Robbins has clashed with Committee Chair Emily Thornberry in a fiery grilling on the appointment of Lord Peter Mandelson.
Addressing the Foreign Affairs Committee, Sir Olly refused to disclose if there was anything in the in the vetting of Lord Mandelson that was “not already in the public realm”, declaring he will “not open that box”.
Ms Thornberry said: “Okay, so if there was anything that wasn’t already in the public realm, just tell me that there was something that wasn’t already in the public realm. Don’t tell me what it was, just tell me, oh, yeah, there was something else.”
Sir Olly responded: “I’m afraid I’m not prepared to do that, chair. What that leads to is, of course, then, an absolute storm of questions as to what that issue was.”
Ms Thornberry hit back: “I’m not going to ask you a storm of questions, storm of questions. That was going to be my last question.”
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