Mandelson Failed Security Vetting: The Prime Minister Speaks Out
Newscast
BBC
4.3 • 6.6K Ratings
🗓️ 17 April 2026
⏱️ 48 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
Today, Keir Starmer says it's "staggering" he was not told Lord Mandelson had failed security vetting for his appointment as US ambassador.
Speaking from a summit in France, the prime minister says he's "absolutely furious" and will update MPs in Parliament on Monday. Opposition leaders are calling on Starmer to resign, accusing him of "catastrophically poor judgement" and of being "incompetent, gullible or a liar. Adam and Chris go through the details and discuss how damaging this could be.
And, we take a deep dive into the Scottish Parliament elections, with cost of living, immigration and energy top of the agenda.Adam is joined by Alex Forsyth, James Cook and pollster and director of More in Common, Luke Tryl to look at what the parties are promising as they go head to head in their first debates.
You can now listen to Newscast on a smart speaker. If you want to listen, just say "Ask BBC Sounds to play Newscast”. It works on most smart speakers. You can join our Newscast online community here: https://bbc.in/newscastdiscord
Get in touch with Newscast by emailing newscast@bbc.co.uk or send us a WhatsApp on +44 0330 123 9480.
New episodes released every day. If you're in the UK, for more News and Current Affairs podcasts from the BBC, listen on BBC Sounds: https://bbc.in/4guXgXd Newscast brings you daily analysis of the latest political news stories from the BBC. The presenter was Adam Fleming. It was made by Jack Maclaren and Anna Harris with Shiler Mahmoudi. The social producer was Grace Braddock. The technical producer was Mike Regaard. The assistant editor is Chris Gray. The senior news editor is Sam Bonham.
Transcript
Click on a timestamp to play from that location
| 0:00.0 | BBC Sounds, Music, Radio, podcasts. |
| 0:05.7 | Hello, we've got a little bit of a change of plan on newscast. |
| 0:09.4 | You will later on hear the latest episode of Electioncast, |
| 0:12.5 | where we'll be digging into the campaign for the Scottish Parliament elections. |
| 0:16.5 | But before that, we're going to do a little bit of breaking news, |
| 0:18.8 | because in between recording the last episode of Newscast and this one, there's been quite a few developments in the Lord Mandelson vetting story, which was broken by The Guardian on Thursday afternoon. |
| 0:29.7 | Sir Ollie Robbins, Sir Oliver Robbins, has left the foreign office. He was the most senior civil servant, and he is the person who reportedly overruled the findings of Lord Mandelson's vetting to allow him to be appointed as the ambassador |
| 0:44.6 | to Washington, D.C. And all of this has provoked this response from the Prime Minister, who |
| 0:49.7 | was in Paris for a meeting of other countries who were trying to keep the straight of Hormuz open, |
| 0:55.0 | which has been sort of diverted a bit by this story. |
| 0:58.1 | That I wasn't told that Peter Mandelson had failed security vetting when he's appointed is staggering. |
| 1:06.6 | That I wasn't told that it failed security vetting when I was telling Parliament that due process had been followed is unforgivable. |
| 1:16.5 | Not only was I not told, no minister was told. |
| 1:20.3 | And I'm absolutely furious about that. |
| 1:23.2 | What I intend to do is to go to Parliament on Monday to set out all the relevant facts in true |
| 1:29.1 | transparency. So, Parliament has the full picture. So, a very angry Kier Starmer there. Coming |
| 1:34.5 | your way shortly, an episode of election cast. But before that, we will get Chris's analysis of |
| 1:39.3 | what's been going on in the last 24 hours in the news in this episode of Newscast. |
| 1:47.2 | Newscast from the BBC. BBC humanity's next great voyage begins we are in the midst of a rupture nostalgia will not bring back the old |
| 1:53.2 | order six seven yeah it's supposed to be me as a doctor there he has also a special |
| 1:58.8 | connotation oh la la lo thinking about it like a pantor helped. |
| 2:03.2 | Do we play music now? |
... |
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.