Why Olly Robbins isn’t Labour’s only problem
4/21/202621 min
The news agenda may be dominated by Olly Robbins’ highly-anticipated evidence session to MPs on the Mandelson scandal – but is an even more significant story unfolding elsewhere?
Cabinet ministers and other senior Labour figures (but not the Prime Minister) will gather at a key conference – setting out competing visions on growth, energy security and economic policy. Are they positioning themselves for a future without Keir Starmer?
Sam and Anne assess what Labour grandees can do to revive the party’s public standing and define what happens next.
Plus, the duo have their weekly check-in on the state of the polls, and wonder whether the Mandelson saga has had an impact.
Clips
Transcript preview
First 90 secondsAnne McElvoy· Host0:00
[upbeat music] Hello, good morning and welcome. It's Tuesday, April the 21st. Today, the fight back of the Mandarins as Olly Robbins gives his evidence. But in reality, is that the second most important event going on in Westminster today? I'm Anne McElvoy from Politico.
Sam Coates· Host0:20
And I'm Sam Coates of Sky News, or maybe even the third biggest story. The front page of The Times called Olly Robbins evidence to come blockbuster. I'm just not quite sure that's his style or that's his goal, and this isn't meant unkindly, but Olly Robbins has had a stellar career shutting things down, not blowing them up. And it's, it's not clear that, uh, he is, uh-- And his goal, uh, is to bring down the government. It, it's more to clear his name and, um, uh, have a little bit of a sense of natural justice about his own reputation. Number 10 were pretty happy with yesterday. So I'm gonna say that we're at the stage of the story with Mandelson and his vetting, where it would take something big, new and sparkly to get this whole thing up and running again.
Anne McElvoy· Host1:09
And lest we forget, there is politics as usual, uh, in the midst of the reputation tussle, uh, between Sir Keir and Sir Humphrey, AKA, uh, Olly Robbins, and the government is having its hand forced in the Commons. It's been forced to accept a ban on smartphones in schools, uh, as the price of getting