Is Keir Starmer’s premiership terminal?
The Story
The Times
3.9 • 1.6K Ratings
🗓️ 10 February 2026
⏱️ 31 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
It’s been a week of chaos in Westminster, as Prime Minister Keir Starmer fights for survival. The crisis he faces reached fever pitch on Sunday with the resignation of his chief of staff, Morgan McSweeney, followed swiftly the next morning by the departure of Tim Allan, his director of communications. On Monday afternoon, the pressure escalated further when Anas Sarwar, Labour leader in Scotland, became the most senior figure yet to publicly call for Starmer’s resignation. So can his government survive the next week ahead?
This podcast was brought to you thanks to the support of readers of The Times and The Sunday Times. Subscribe today: http://thetimes.com/thestory
Guest: Aubrey Allegretti, chief political correspondent, The Times.
Host: Manveen Rana.
Producer: Harry Stott, Sophie McNulty.
We want to hear from you - email: thestory@thetimes.com
Read more: With Morgan McSweeney forced out, PM may not be far behind
Further listening: Mandelson, Epstein and the fight for survival at No 10
Clips: Times Radio, BBC, The Telegraph, Sky News, ITV News, GB News
Photo: Getty Images, The Times, Dinesh Mehta
This podcast was brought to you thanks to subscribers of The Times and The Sunday Times. To enjoy unlimited digital access to all our journalism subscribe here.
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
Transcript
Click on a timestamp to play from that location
| 0:00.0 | From The Times and the Sunday Times, this is the story. |
| 0:06.1 | I'm Manvine Rana. |
| 0:09.8 | It's been a frenetic week in Westminster, and it's only Monday. |
| 0:15.1 | We are now in the terminal phase of Kirstarmer's premiership. |
| 0:19.4 | And he's in a situation where he's either going to survive and be very, very weakened, |
| 0:24.1 | going forward, or he's going to have to go. |
| 0:26.6 | This is a full-blown crisis in Downing Street. |
| 0:29.9 | The Prime Minister's position is in peril. |
| 0:33.0 | But how did we get here? |
| 0:35.0 | When the new Epstein files dropped just over a week ago, revealing |
| 0:39.1 | the shocking extent of the relationship between Peter Mandelson and the convicted child sex offender, |
| 0:45.5 | the government was left reeling. |
| 0:47.9 | The UK Prime Minister has come under extreme pressure about what he knew about Lord |
| 0:52.5 | Mandelson's connections to Geoffrey Epstein when |
| 0:55.4 | he appointed him as US ambassador. |
| 0:58.2 | By Wednesday at Prime Minister's questions, Kirstama was loyally and publicly standing by his |
| 1:05.8 | chief of staff, Morgan McSweeney, a close friend of Peter Mandelson's who'd pushed for him to get the job. |
| 1:13.7 | Brian, Vanessa. |
| 1:14.5 | McSweeney is an essential part of my team. |
| 1:16.4 | He helped me change the Labour Party and win an election. |
| 1:19.9 | Of course I have confidence. |
| 1:21.6 | But it was this moment during the same PMQs that for many Labour backbenchers was the beginning of the end for Starma. |
... |
Please login to see the full transcript.
Disclaimer: The podcast and artwork embedded on this page are from The Times, and are the property of its owner and not affiliated with or endorsed by Tapesearch.
Generated transcripts are the property of The Times and are distributed freely under the Fair Use doctrine. Transcripts generated by Tapesearch are not guaranteed to be accurate.
Copyright © Tapesearch 2026.