British prime minister fights for political survival
Newshour
BBC
4.2 • 1.1K Ratings
🗓️ 9 February 2026
⏱️ 47 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
Keir Starmer's judgment is being questioned over his past appointment as ambassador to the United States of Peter Mandelson, a British peer with deep personal connections to the convicted paedophile Jeffrey Epstein. Can he survive as prime minister? We hear the latest from our reporter in parliament. And as Epstein's accomplice Ghislaine Maxwell invokes the Fifth Amendment, declining to answer questions before the US House Oversight Committee, we catch up with the political reaction.
Also in the programme: American tech giants Meta and Google go on trial in California - they're accused of harming children by knowingly creating addictive social media platforms. And the French government sends letters to every 29-year-old in the country, exhorting them to have babies while their biological clocks are still ticking.
(Photo: Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer leaving 10 Downing Street, London. Credit: James Manning/PA Wire)
Transcript
Click on a timestamp to play from that location
| 0:00.0 | BBC Sounds, Music, radio, podcasts. |
| 0:06.4 | Hello and welcome to NewsHour from the BBC World Service. We're coming to you live from London. |
| 0:16.4 | I'm Leila Nathu. Some of the world's biggest social media giants are in court for a landmark trial in |
| 0:22.5 | California. They're being accused of designing addictive products that damage young users' mental health. |
| 0:28.5 | In half an hour, we will hear from the lawyer bringing in the case. |
| 0:31.5 | This was a three and a half year's struggle to even get to trial. So the fact that we have an opportunity to plead our case to a fair |
| 0:40.7 | and impartial jury is a huge victory in and of itself in a milestone in holding social media |
| 0:47.2 | companies accountable for the carnage that they are inflicting on young people throughout the world. |
| 0:53.1 | Also, why bad bunny might be good for American football's international appeal. |
| 0:59.2 | But first, here in Britain, Prime Minister Kier Stama is fighting for his political survival |
| 1:04.6 | as he tries to find a way through the scandal triggered by his appointment of Peter Mandelson |
| 1:09.5 | as the UK's ambassador to Washington, |
| 1:12.3 | despite knowing of his connections to the sex offender, Jeffrey Epstein. After his most senior |
| 1:17.8 | advisor quit yesterday, saying he took responsibility for recommending Mandelson for the role, |
| 1:23.4 | Kirstama lost yet another key member of his top team today when his director of communications unexpectedly walked out. |
| 1:31.2 | Questions have been centering around the Prime Minister's judgment. |
| 1:34.4 | Today, one of the governing Labour Party's most senior figures, |
| 1:37.6 | its leader in Scotland, Anna Sawa, decided it was time to take a stand against his boss. |
| 1:43.0 | This isn't easy and it's not without pain, |
| 1:46.3 | as I have a genuine friendship with Kirstarmer. |
| 1:50.2 | But my first priority and my first loyalty is to my country, Scotland. |
| 1:57.3 | And I am not willing to sacrifice Scotland's NHS, our schools, our communities, our towns, cities, villages and islands to a third decade of an SMP government. |
... |
Please login to see the full transcript.
Disclaimer: The podcast and artwork embedded on this page are from BBC, and are the property of its owner and not affiliated with or endorsed by Tapesearch.
Generated transcripts are the property of BBC and are distributed freely under the Fair Use doctrine. Transcripts generated by Tapesearch are not guaranteed to be accurate.
Copyright © Tapesearch 2026.