Cat amongst the pigeons: Mandarins at war
4/23/202621 min
Will the Prime Minister ever escape the ghost of Peter Mandelson and his decision to appoint the ‘Prince of Darkness’ as the UK’s ambassador to Washington?
With fresh committee hearings looming – including an appearance from Cabinet Office permanent secretary Cat Little – and senior ministers appearing uncomfortable defending No10 on the airwaves, Sam and Anne ask if the row is anywhere near its peak.
The duo also examine the growing tension between Downing Street and the civil service and whether pulling top mandarins into political warfare risks lasting damage to the system.
Over on Planet Tory, Anne has an update on the rumoured reshuffle of Kemi Badenoch’s shadow cabinet.
Plus, why isn’t the government more worried about a shortage of jet fuel due to the Iran war?
Clips
Transcript preview
First 90 secondsSam Coates· Host0:00
[upbeat music] Hello, good morning and welcome. It's Thursday, April the 23rd. In this field, it's number 10. Like some things never end. Eight months after the sacking of Peter Mandelson, we've got yet another committee hearing into Keir Starmer's appointment of the ambassador to Washington, with weeks more of all of this to go. My name is Sam Coates of Sky News.
Anne McElvoy· Host0:24
And I'm Anne McElvoy from Politico. On the subject of problems without end, overnight, the US says there is no timeframe on ending the war with Iran, as Tehran says that reopening the Straits of Hormuz is not possible. So shortages arising from that do seem to be looming. Airlines on the continent warning of jet fuel shortages in the next weeks and going into the summer holidays. The British government, uh, trying to play it chill on that one, saying that all is manageable.
Sam Coates· Host0:53
Can I make a really... I think this is, um, such an obvious point to, to, to be naive. Um, so it's absolutely fine, it's great if the UK have enough jet fuel, but what happens when planes go abroad to the continent where there's not enough jet fuel? What happens to all the flights then? So it's absolutely fine for the British government to say supplies are fine in this country till they're blue in the face. That doesn't mean air travel is fine if there ain't the fuel to refuel when you land in your European holiday destination.
Anne McElvoy· Host1:24
Anyone who has deeper knowledge of this issue of airline [chuckles] fuel contingencies than me