Speeches by Kumaran.

“Understood. Sir Olly, before the decision or judgment was made not to inform the Prime Minister, the Foreign Secretary or, it seems, anyone that Mandelson’s developed vetting clearance was denied, or the recommendation was that it was denied—you are disputing that version of events, but we have seen the boxes with both…”

“I am not asking about its contents. This is the most sensitive diplomatic appointment in the British Government. We have seen a form where both boxes were for denied. Did you not think to check whether there was a precedent, where someone has been denied, to then inform the Foreign Secretary or the Prime Minister?”

“Sir Oliver, you said you are proud that you didn’t bow to pressure, but of course you were our chief Brexit negotiator. You are very used to high-pressure situations, which is partly why you found yourself in one of the top civil service roles in the country. In one of your earlier answers, you said that you were told …”

“There is an on-the-record instance of a Prime Minister being told of a senior official having their security clearance withdrawn. The Prime Minister of the day was Margaret Thatcher, and she made a written statement to the House of Commons in 1987, setting out the withdrawal of security clearance of Sir Maurice Oldfiel…”

“The recommendation was—”

“The recommendation was—”

“Sir Olly, I will just leave it with this: your version of events—thank you for setting this out—was that it is borderline. The version that we are seeing shows a very clear denial and a recommendation not to go forward. Those two things do not quite match up at the moment.”

“It was about when the cache of emails that Bloomberg had come to light. This is a question about judgment. I asked you about this last time, from the transcript. Sir Chris Wormald told us in answer to some of these questions that the due diligence has two parts. There is identification of information and then there is …”

“It was a statement, but you can answer it.”

“Sir Olly, I will just leave it with this: your version of events—thank you for setting this out—was that it is borderline. The version that we are seeing shows a very clear denial and a recommendation not to go forward. Those two things do not quite match up at the moment.”

“There is an on-the-record instance of a Prime Minister being told of a senior official having their security clearance withdrawn. The Prime Minister of the day was Margaret Thatcher, and she made a written statement to the House of Commons in 1987, setting out the withdrawal of security clearance of Sir Maurice Oldfiel…”

“It was a statement, but you can answer it.”

“I am not asking about its contents. This is the most sensitive diplomatic appointment in the British Government. We have seen a form where both boxes were for denied. Did you not think to check whether there was a precedent, where someone has been denied, to then inform the Foreign Secretary or the Prime Minister?”

“Let me pivot a slightly different way. On the form that we have seen—that you say you have not previously seen—both boxes were red where it is “high concern” and “clearance denied or withdrawn”. You are saying that is not a failure of vetting—related but separate. Once Bloomberg had some emails disclosed to them, and t…”

“Sir Oliver, you said you are proud that you didn’t bow to pressure, but of course you were our chief Brexit negotiator. You are very used to high-pressure situations, which is partly why you found yourself in one of the top civil service roles in the country. In one of your earlier answers, you said that you were told …”

“It was about when the cache of emails that Bloomberg had come to light. This is a question about judgment. I asked you about this last time, from the transcript. Sir Chris Wormald told us in answer to some of these questions that the due diligence has two parts. There is identification of information and then there is …”

“Understood. Sir Olly, before the decision or judgment was made not to inform the Prime Minister, the Foreign Secretary or, it seems, anyone that Mandelson’s developed vetting clearance was denied, or the recommendation was that it was denied—you are disputing that version of events, but we have seen the boxes with both…”

“Let me pivot a slightly different way. On the form that we have seen—that you say you have not previously seen—both boxes were red where it is “high concern” and “clearance denied or withdrawn”. You are saying that is not a failure of vetting—related but separate. Once Bloomberg had some emails disclosed to them, and t…”

“Do you think politicians should be allowed to use AI to manipulate our images and what we say in the Chamber or in our constituencies?”

“It is good to hear you decisively say that we are not quite going far enough at the moment. When we meet colleagues from around the world, they call this hybrid warfare. It is a really severe term but it is what they call it. They make no mistake about what this is. My worry is that in Britain we have that sense of Bri…”