Speeches by Gemmell.

“Thank you for your time today. You said earlier in this session that on 15 September 2025—four days after Peter Mandelson was sacked—Foreign Office officials asked for and received the UKSV documents relating to him. Did they say why they wanted to see these documents in the wake of his sacking? What documents did they…”

“Thank you.”

“When you sought the legal policy and PIT advice, did you speak to anyone in the Foreign Office in the decision-making chain—Olly, or any of the people below Olly—who may have seen the documentation, to try and get an understanding of what they did?”

“I would be very grateful if you did that.”

“Would it be possible for us to see that and to come to our own conclusions about whether the actions of Sir Olly were in line with that guidance, if it were to exist?”

“As much as you can tell us about those inquiries, did you pick up concerns from the Foreign Office system about how this had come about? Were people worried about the way the decision had been taken or the information had been conveyed? Can you share any of that with us?”

“Is there FCDO guidance on how it takes vetting decisions? If so, have you seen that?”

“Can you tell us who did or what sort of advice he received in advance of that? Do you know?”

“Thank you. On the dismissal of Sir Olly, did you provide any advice to the Prime Minister about the decision to dismiss him?”

“In particular, I was wondering about this discrepancy between what he says he was briefed at and what the form said. Did you pick up within your Foreign Office conversations any other evidence about concerns in the system about that?”

“Would you mind checking ahead of our session?”

“The Committee is seeing Morgan McSweeney next week. Is there any Cabinet Office advice in relation to the decision to use him and others to have follow-up questions to Peter Mandelson about the Epstein issues?”

“Sir Olly told this Committee this week that he was briefed that officials in the Cabinet Office were very worried about releasing Peter Mandelson’s UKSV file to Parliament. Would that be correct?”

“Did Cabinet Office officials at any stage consider withholding Mandelson’s UKSV summary file from the ISC?”

“Would they have needed to give a reason to see the file?”

“Yes, in the last few days.”

“In those conversations, were you able to set out how the Foreign Office does vetting? Do you think people understood these distinctions that you have been making today?”

“Yesterday in the House, the Prime Minister said that “officials in the Foreign Office saw fit to withhold information” on Mandelson’s vetting “from the most senior Ministers in our system”. Is that how you see it?”

“You have been at the centre of Government for many years and spent many years of your career promoting and defending our country’s national security. With the benefit of hindsight, having heard the Committee’s questions today on notes, on seeking advice, on how the Foreign Office took this decision, and on how it ended…”

“Do you have concerns about the amount of information we have now shared about our developed vetting system, in relation to what our adversaries know about us?”