Is UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer's time up over Mandelson mess? — Global News Podcast

[0:00] Welcome to the Global News Podcast on YouTube. I'm Ankur Desai. Welcome to this episode. Today [0:05] I'm joined by our UK political correspondent, Rob Watson. Rob, as always, great to have you with us. [0:11] We're going to start in Westminster. It's been an incredibly challenging week for the Prime [0:16] Minister, Keir Starmer. Good to be with you and absolutely what an extraordinary week in British [0:21] politics. Where to begin? Well, I guess at the start on Monday is probably the best place, [0:26] Ankur, and the fact that the Prime Minister, Keir Starmer, faced a two and a half hour grilling and [0:32] battering in the House of Commons in Parliament, the like of which I just can't really remember [0:37] seeing. I mean, I watched, and at some point, thinking of a boxing analogy, I was wondering, [0:44] this is just so horrible. Is the referee going to step in and stop the fight, stop the boxer from [0:50] getting injured anymore? It was that bloody. Now, what was it about? Well, Sir Keir Starmer, [0:56] had gone to the House of Commons to mount his defence for appointing Peter Mandelson to the job [1:02] as a British ambassador to Washington, essentially saying, look, you know, had I known that there'd [1:07] been a vetting process that turned up all sorts of security problems about him, you know, I would [1:14] never, I would never have appointed him. But I mean, most MPs either didn't believe him or thought, [1:19] well, even if that was true, you know, why on earth didn't you have a bit more of a grip on the [1:23] process. But actually, the reason why there was so much of a problem for the prime minister [1:27] is most just didn't believe him. They thought, look, you know, you didn't care about security [1:32] and vetting issues with Mandelson. You just wanted to get him there to Washington ASAP [1:36] for Donald Trump's inauguration. And Rob, a name that's become a focal point in recent days is [1:42] Ollie Robbins. He was the highest ranking civil servant in the Foreign Office until he was sacked [1:48] last week. And now to quote him, he's described it as an atmosphere of constant pressure to send [1:54] Peter Mandelson to Washington as ambassador. Now, why would the UK government be so keen to have him? [2:00] Well, that's really a case of going back to basics, Anchor, but let's do it. Why on earth did Keir [2:05] Starmer select Peter Mandelson for that job in the first place? I mean, of course, these days, [2:09] he doesn't like to talk about it. He says, you know, I made an error of judgment. But I mean, [2:14] the argument back in December 2024 was, look, Donald Trump is coming into office. Peter Mandelson [2:20] may have had a bit of a checkered past, but he's someone who's been in several British governments. [2:25] He'd been a trade commissioner in the European Union. He had business links all over the world. [2:30] He was a sort of a mover and a shaker. Now, obviously, that has worked out really badly, [2:36] especially when all of those emails were published, showing the depth of that friendship [2:40] between Mandelson and the convicted sex offender, Jeffrey Epstein. Now, why this has become so [2:48] massively problematic for Keir Starmer, and why this man, Ollie Robbins, who until recently, [2:54] until Starmer sacked him, was head of the Foreign Office, is Starmer's defense is, look, you know, [2:59] had I known about all these security issues? Look, I definitely, I would have stopped him from [3:03] getting the appointment. But what Ollie Robbins has said is, look, when I joined the Foreign Office [3:08] in January 2025, Downing Street, weren't in the least bit interested in any of these concerns [3:14] about Mandelson. They just made it clear they wanted to get him to Washington ASAP. [3:21] This has been going on for quite some time. We've talked about it a lot here domestically in the UK, [3:26] but a lot of people, I can also sense some sense of fatigue as well around this story. [3:32] All the indications are the public aren't really interested in the nuances of how [3:36] people are vetted for high office in this country. What's damaging about it for Keir Starmer is the [3:42] fact that it's back in the news, highlights three things for the voters. One, that he selected Peter [3:48] Mandelson in the first place, when there were all sorts of things known about him publicly. It was [3:53] known publicly that, you know, he had a close friendship with Jeffrey Epstein. It was known that [3:57] he had business interests in China and Russia. So one, why on earth did he do it? Second, [4:02] it's bad for Keir Starmer because he'd promised that if he won the election in 2024, it'd be no drama [4:09] Starmer. You wouldn't have all the ups and downs and scandal of the Conservatives' years in office [4:15] for 14 years before that. And then the third thing is that he promised that he would be the kind of [4:20] person who the buck stops with him. You know, he would always take the can if anything went wrong. [4:26] And here you have all of those things, lots of drama, lots of scandal, and a sort of senior civil [4:33] servant, an official, getting the sack rather than the prime minister. [4:38] Where does Keir Starmer go from here, Rob? He's been in charge for less than two years, [4:43] and a lot of people suggesting that he should be relieved of his duties. Where does he go from here? [4:50] Well, it does feel as though the last few days have been another low point in a very, [4:54] very difficult premiership for Keir Starmer. I mean, I think it's worth pointing out that [4:59] having won the general election with this massive landslide in 2024, he is now almost the most, [5:06] he competes with Liz Truss, but just about the most unpopular prime minister ever, which is really [5:14] something. And there is a sense very much at Westminster that he is a man, a prime minister [5:20] living on borrowed time, that he that he won't see Labour to the next election, which is due to be [5:25] in 2029. But the problem is, you know, who do they replace him with? I mean, they don't have an [5:31] obvious leader in mind, there are some important elections coming up in a couple of weeks. So it's [5:35] unlikely they'd want to remove him before that. And the other thing that the Labour Party is very [5:40] sensitive to is that even though they may not like Keir Starmer and think that his position is hopeless, [5:46] they're kind of very worried about being accused of changing prime ministers every five minutes, [5:51] just as the previous Conservative government was in the habit of doing. So in a way, if you like, [5:57] it's a nightmare for the Labour Party that they're in power, but their prime minister looks [6:04] unpopular beyond all reason. What do they do next? They're in a bind. [6:09] Will people be looking at the UK from afar and saying, well, hang on, you could potentially have [6:15] five prime ministers in the space of four years, potentially. Why is it so challenging for a leader [6:20] to hold on to their position and do it with some strength and confidence, not just from their [6:25] colleagues, but from members of the public around the country? You know, there are all sorts of [6:30] challenges and reasons why this instability is happening. I mean, some of it is just because [6:35] Britain, like many other countries, is not experiencing growth. That has a massive effect, [6:42] the economic stagnation. People have a sense that the state isn't delivering what they think it [6:48] should in terms of services. There are also all these huge questions about sort of social cohesion. [6:54] People look at the question of immigration and feel unsettled. And so these are huge challenges [7:00] for any prime minister to make. Now, on top of all of that, I think it's often said that [7:06] the politicians themselves make matters worse by making bad decisions. But then there's this other [7:13] big, massive overriding issue about ungovernability. And that is the suggestion that the politicians [7:19] themselves are to blame by not levelling with the voters, saying, look, you know, in Britain, [7:24] we have some difficult choices to make about the level of taxation, about what exactly the state can [7:31] provide, what it can't provide. And I guess that the charge to be made against the politicians is [7:37] that they're always promising. There was promising milk and honey to the voters. They never say to them, [7:42] you know, this is going to be the downside of some of the things that we're suggesting. And it's for that [7:47] reason that when when prime ministers, whether it's Sikir Starmoor or anyone else get into power, [7:53] you know, you kind of find that, you know, the reality, it's the dream of campaigning. And that's [8:01] where all the sort of disillusion and discontent and then mistrust in politicians kicks in. [8:06] Rob, as always, we appreciate your time. Thank you so much. UK political correspondent Rob Watson [8:12] joining me. Fascinating insight from Rob from Westminster, as always. Do subscribe to our channel. [8:20] If you do like more on the Global News podcast, you can also download us from wherever you get [8:24] your podcasts from. Do give us a subscribe and a follow. Thanks so much for your company.