10/01/2026
The Week in Westminster
BBC
4.0 • 258 Ratings
🗓️ 10 January 2026
⏱️ 28 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
Following a week of intense activlty in the international arena - including US action in Venezuela - George discusses the week's events with Labour peer George Robertson, the former Secretary General of NATO, and Sir Simon Fraser, the former permanent secretary at the Foreign Office who now chairs the foreign affairs think tank Chatham House.
To discuss the challenges facing graduates seeking jobs after university and the impact of artificial intelligence on future employment, George is joined by Labour MP Lauren Edwards who co-chairs the all-party parliamentary group on Skills, Careers and Employment and Paul Johnson, the former Director of the Institute for Fiscal Studies and now Provost of The Queen's College Oxford.
Recently, there has been debate online anout London: is it one of the best cities in the world or is it a failing city? To discuss this George is joined by Labour MP Rachel Blake who represents the Cities on London and Westminster constituency, and Alex Wilson a Reform UK member of the London Assembly.
Lobby journalists report on political events and can ask questions to the prime minister’s official spokesperson – a civil servant. Until this week, that was twice a day but the briefing has now been reduced to one a day. To discuss the pros and cons of this move George is joined by Kate McCann a lobby jounralist and co-presenter of the Times Radio Breakfast show, and Tom Baldwin, a former lobby journalist who later became communications director for the Labour Party.
Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | This is George Parker of the Financial Times with The Week in Westminster. |
| 0:11.2 | Sarkier Starrma had an heroically optimistic message to his cabinet |
| 0:15.1 | in their first meeting of 2026 this week. |
| 0:18.7 | Yes, there's a world of uncertainty and upheaval, he told as ministers. |
| 0:23.1 | But tackling the cost of living remains and must remain our focus. |
| 0:28.3 | Good luck with that. |
| 0:29.8 | Within hours, the Prime Minister was on his way to Paris |
| 0:32.3 | for talks about Ukraine and the fallout of the intervention in Venezuela by this man. |
| 0:38.3 | This was one of the most stunning, effective and powerful displays of American military might |
| 0:46.1 | and competence in American history. |
| 0:50.3 | And the first PMQs of the New Year was inevitably dominated by the tumultuous events on the world stage |
| 0:56.3 | and President Trump's expansionist intentions. Liberal Democrat leader, Sir Ed Davy. |
| 1:02.6 | The Prime Minister was right to give the Danish Prime Minister his backing over Trump's threats to annex Greenland |
| 1:09.5 | and they welcome his joint statement with other European |
| 1:12.7 | leaders. But does he also agree that if Trump does attack Greenland, it will be the end of NATO? |
| 1:21.6 | The future of Greenland is for Greenland and the Kingdom of Denmark, and for Greenland and the Kingdom of Denmark alone for Greenland and the Kingdom of Denmark alone. |
| 1:29.3 | And yesterday he will have seen that I put out a statement to that effect |
| 1:33.3 | along with fellow allies in Europe. |
| 1:36.3 | And of course NATO is hugely important, the single most effective and important military alliance |
| 1:42.3 | the world has ever known. |
| 1:47.9 | The Labour peer George Robertson is a former Secretary-General of NATO. |
| 1:52.0 | Sir Simon Fraser is the former permanent secretary at the Foreign Office and chair of the Foreign Affairs think tank Chatham House. |
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