EXTRA: Why didn’t Starmer ask more questions about Mandelson?
4/21/202633 min
Keir Starmer says that if he'd known Peter Mandelson had failed his vetting, he would never have appointed him US ambassador.
The PM told the MPs that civil servants in the Foreign Office had made a "deliberate decision" not to tell him, and that it "beggars belief" that he didn’t know.
This is a story full of political process, about whether rules were followed. But for many it may just boil down to why the Prime Minister did not ask more questions, especially when it concerned a man who had already resigned twice from government.
In this special extra episode Beth Rigby, Ruth Davidson and Harriet Harman give a full debrief on Keir Starmer’s Commons performance.
Got a question for the burner phone? WhatsApp 07934 200 444 or email electoraldysfunction@sky.uk
And if you didn't know, you can also watch Beth, Ruth and Harriet on YouTube.
Clips
Transcript preview
First 90 secondsHarriet Harman· Host0:00
[upbeat music] Sky News, the full story first.
Ruth Davidson· Host0:05
[upbeat music] There's not that many more bodies between him and a reckoning on this one.
Beth Rigby· Host0:17
[upbeat music] It's not mutinous, but it's a bit like having a slow, chronic disease.
Harriet Harman· Host0:25
[upbeat music] He's got to get a good relationship with the civil service, and at the moment, the relationship is absolutely terrible.
Beth Rigby· Host0:35
[upbeat music] Hello, and welcome to an extra Electoral Dysfunction with me, Beth Rigby.
Ruth Davidson· Host0:44
Me, Ruth Davidson.
Harriet Harman· Host0:45
And me, Harriet Harman.
Beth Rigby· Host0:46
And we are back even though it's only the beginning of this week because so much has happened, we just couldn't stay away.
Ruth Davidson· Host0:55
We couldn't.
Beth Rigby· Host0:56
Again, it's all about Peter Mandelson and his appointment as US Ambassador. Uh, Ruth, as you were just saying to me before we started recording, it's like a zombie, uh, story. You think it's, uh, it's finally dead, and it just keeps coming back to life and keeps coming back to haunt the PM. It's all about, uh, his judgment. Was he asking enough questions to enough people about a man who twice had to resign from cabinets in previous Labour administrations? So he's been to the Commons to explain himself, and we're about to go through