India, April 23 -- British Prime Minister Keir Starmer has denied that there was pressure from 10 Downing Street over the security clearance of ex-UK envoy to the US, Lord Mandelson's appointment, as he faced questions from the MPs at the House of Commons on Wednesday.

Starmer responded to the allegations hurled by the former top civil servant at the Foreign Office, OIly Robbins, who said at Westminster that No 10 had shown a "dismissive attitude" towards Mandelson's vetting and that he had faced pressure that Mandelson needed to be appointed in his role "as quickly as possible."

Starmer, in the Commons, was pressed by the Tory leader Kemi Badenoch to clarify his previous statement that "full due process" was observed during Mandelson's...