Speeches by Morello.

“So you were informed on the 15th that the Prime Minister wanted to appoint Peter Mandelson?”

“Apologies if we are going over the same point here, but for the point of clarity, the due diligence report is produced by the Cabinet Office. You received that. Did the Prime Minister receive the full unredacted due diligence report, or did you summarise it, or did you brief him orally? What did the Prime Minister rece…”

“No, you wouldn’t have because he would have been sitting there thinking, “Well, if I want the job I am definitely going to get it because the Prime Minister got Peter Mandelson one.””

“That is not what Sir Olly Robbins told us. Sir Olly Robbins told us that Matthew Doyle’s name was another one floated as a political appointee. Given that when the Prime Minister politically appointed Mandelson it was a lock, it would be fair to assume, if you are Matthew Doyle, that effectively a similar guarantee was…”

“Okay. Did he express any reservations at that point about the appointment of Peter Mandelson?”

“You have talked about there being pros and cons to the appointment of Peter Mandelson. When you spoke to Jonathan Powell, you said that he raised pros and cons. When you spoke to David Lammy, he raised pros and cons. Outside of Peter Mandelson himself, is there anyone who was not raising any cons? Were there any out-an…”

“He received the full report. Did you discuss the contents of the report with him?”

“What is true?”

“Did that conversation happen at a point at which he had read the report? There is a difference between receiving the report and reading it, I guess.”

“You wrote some clarification emails to Peter Mandelson and received those replies. Did those responses go to the Prime Minister?”

“And did you discuss those responses with him?”

“I guess I am going back to what you said earlier, which is that the Prime Minister talks to lots of people before coming to the decision himself, but so far, everyone who you have listed seems to be on the fence as to whether or not Peter Mandelson was a good appointment or worth the risk. How do you get to the point w…”

“Well, we should put on record that you have served under four different Prime Ministers. At any point during your tenure as perm sec, were you asked by a No. 10 organisation to withhold information from the Foreign Secretary? How usual is that request?”

“Did he raise any reservations with you during that discussion?”

“I want to return to the original questions at the opening. You talked about the timeline and that, in meetings with Simon Case prior to coming into Government, the Prime Minister was already minded to make a political appointment. According to what you have said, at that point no names were being discussed, but why was…”

“So you were informed on the 15th that the Prime Minister wanted to appoint Peter Mandelson?”

“Was it a conversation, because there is then subsequently the letter?”

“The 18th.”

“The letter just references the desire to appoint Peter Mandelson. Your letter to the private secretary to the King says that, “The Prime Minister has indicated his intention to recommend…a small number of political appointments”. When you had the conversation on the 15th, that presumably was that the PM will make a num…”

“That is fine. I am just wondering why, prior to the election, the Prime Minister was already saying, “That job there is going to be a political appointment.””