Can Keir Starmer save himself from the Mandelson scandal?
The News Agents
Global
4.1 • 5.4K Ratings
🗓️ 5 February 2026
⏱️ 41 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
Keir Starmer apologised this morning for appointing Peter Mandelson as Britain's ambassador to the US. He said he should never have believed "the lies" of Mandelson.
He says he understands the "anger and frustration" of Labour MPs. But is he in a position to win back the support of his own party? How close is he to the brink? And - if Mandelson's relationship with Epstein was widely known at the time of his appointment - what is the PM actually apologising for?
One of those concerned Labour MPs, Brian Leishman, tells us that Starmer's chief of staff Morgan McSweeney needs to leave Downing Street, and serious changes need to take place if Starmer is to stay on as Prime Minister.
Later, Emily discusses the infamous Andrew Mountbatten Windsor photo with Virginia Giuffre. It was real after all and the former Prince lied to her when he said he'd never seen it. So what next for Andrew?
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Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | The Newsagents podcast is brought to you by HSBC UK commercial banking, opening up a world of opportunity. |
| 0:10.4 | This is a global player original podcast. |
| 0:14.2 | I am sorry. Sorry for what was done to you. |
| 0:20.2 | Sorry that so many people with power failed you. |
| 0:24.7 | Sorry for having believed Mandelson's lies and appointed him. |
| 0:30.4 | And sorry that even now, you're forced to watch this story unfold in public once again. |
| 0:37.8 | That was Kirstama this morning and honestly the most full-throated |
| 0:42.2 | and I think sincere message directly to the victims of Geoffrey Epstein |
| 0:47.1 | that we have heard from any political leader, frankly, from anyone in power. |
| 0:52.4 | And the question is now, can he distance himself, his premiership, |
| 0:58.0 | from what he knew about Peter Mandelson when he appointed him last January? |
| 1:04.0 | The feeling in the parliamentary Labour Party among Labour MPs is sulphurous. |
| 1:09.0 | Has this affair crippled Stama's authority? Whether he resigns now |
| 1:14.9 | or later, is it all over for him? Welcome to the newsagents. The news agents. It's Lewis. It's Emily. |
| 1:27.3 | And this morning at around 11 o'clock, his Stama popped up in hasty. The News Agents It's Lewis. It's Emily. |
| 1:32.0 | And this morning at around 11 o'clock, Kirstama popped up in Hastings. |
| 1:38.2 | And he wanted to, I guess, talk about renewal, talk about the labour projects. |
| 1:49.3 | But he was conscious that none of that would sink in without first addressing the elephant, the Mandelstein, the Mandel's son, Epstein. |
| 1:50.2 | I mean, that's... Freud's lip there. |
| 1:50.9 | Kind of works, doesn't it? |
| 1:52.3 | The files. |
| 1:53.7 | And the first thing, pretty much the first thing he said was that apology, which I thought, was actually really, really welcome and really convincing. |
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