Sir Philip Barton in front of the committee.Sir Philip Barton became the latest former civil servant to give evidence to the Foreign Affairs Committee on Peter Mandelson’s appointment as UK ambassador to the United States.
The former permanent secretary at the Foreign Office was quizzed on how the shamed former Labour peer got the role – and whether the rules were followed.
Barton left his post on January 19, 2025, less than a month before Mandelson took up his job in Washington DC, but had been closely involved in the appointment process before then.
Here are the five key things we learned from his 90-minute evidence session.
1) He Had Concerns About Mandelson’s Jeffrey Epstein links
Sir Philip told the committee that he was ...
English (US)