Coffee House Shots: Jonathan Hinder on Starmer, Mandelson & a 'bad' local elections
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The Spectator
4.3 • 826 Ratings
🗓️ 7 February 2026
⏱️ 35 minutes
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Summary
On this special edition of Coffee House Shots, Tim Shipman is joined by Jonathan Hinder – a rising star of the back benches and a blue Labour acolyte – for a candid discussion about the state of the Labour party and the security of its leader.
They discuss the Peter Mandelson scandal and the impact it has had on backbench support for the Prime Minister, as well as the implications it may have regarding decision-making at the top of government. Are Labour MPs considering moving against Keir Starmer? Should he fight the next election?
This is set within the context of local elections, which Jonathan forecasts will be ‘bad’ for the Labour party – ‘it’s not a great time to be a Labour MP’, he says. Is there a route back for the Labour party? And could Shabana Mahmood’s tougher line on immigration be the saving grace?
Produced by Megan McElroy.
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Transcript
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| 0:35.0 | Hello and welcome to Coffee House. I'm Tim Shipman, political editor of The Spectator, |
| 0:39.4 | and today I'm delighted to be joined by Jonathan Hinder, one of the rising stars of the Labourback |
| 0:44.7 | benches and a man who is prepared to speak his mind on a range of subjects. So welcome, Jonathan. |
| 0:50.9 | Thank you for having me. |
| 0:51.5 | Look, we can't start what I hope is an interesting and wide-ranging conversation without just talking about the state to play today. What did you make of what the Prime Minister had to say at PMQs yesterday about the Madelson affair? And where do you think we are today? What are your colleagues saying? How secure is the PM? Well, obviously, the Prime Minister has spoken |
| 1:11.2 | at this Pride in Place speech about this, and he's right that he tackled it head on. I think he |
| 1:16.0 | struck the right tone, but I've said that what I want to see now is an acknowledgement that it was |
| 1:21.8 | a serious political error that was made in ever appointing Mandelson. I think it's fair to say that if |
| 1:27.4 | he did not have the connections, |
| 1:29.5 | if he was not so popular in the media and all of that stuff, |
| 1:32.8 | this guy's record would say this person should be nowhere near any sort of position |
| 1:37.6 | in the Labour Party, never mind the most senior diplomatic position. |
| 1:40.8 | So a little bit of humility, I think, would be welcome from the leadership. |
| 1:45.1 | And hopefully us MPs will get that at the Parliamentary Labour Party next week. |
| 1:49.1 | And do you think it would have been a mistake even with what was known at the time, |
| 1:52.6 | which is that, you know, he was friendly with Epstein, but clearly we didn't know about money |
... |
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