PMQs: Starmer Knew About Mandelson & Epstein
Politics Unpacked
Anna Covell
4.1 • 1.4K Ratings
🗓️ 4 February 2026
⏱️ 40 minutes
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Summary
Keir Starmer described Peter Mandelson as a "liar" who "betrayed our country" at PMQs today.
But he also admitted that he had been aware of Mandelson's ongoing relationship with Jeffrey Epstein when he appointed him as US ambassador.
Can the Prime Minister survive this growing scandal?
Hugo Rifkind unpacks the exchanges in the House of Commons with The Times' Chief Political Commentator Patrick Maguire and the comedian Marcus Brigstocke.
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Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | PMQ's unpacked on Times Radio, unpacking the politics and cutting through the crossfire. And I'm joined as always by the Times Chief Political Comptator Patrick McGwar. Hello Patrick. Hello, Hugo. How are you? I'm all right, thank you. Busy day. You could say that. Not as busy as the day they'll be having in number 10, the foreign office and the cabinet office, I suspect. Yeah, well, you'd hope. |
| 0:21.0 | But you never know. |
| 0:21.6 | We're also joined as well by the comedian Marcus Brickstock, Clown Marcus. |
| 0:24.1 | Hey, nice to see you. be having a number 10, the foreign office and the cabinet office, I suspect. Yeah, well, you'd hope, |
| 0:24.7 | but you never know. We're also joined as well by the comedian Marcus Briggs.comloen Marcus. Hey, nice to see you. Welcome back. Good to have you here. Yeah, nice to be here. I wonder what's going to come up. Have you been enjoying recent seasons of PMQs? Yes, I have. Yeah. I have. I never miss it. I thought after a lag, it's really been returning to form of late. |
| 0:35.3 | I agree. |
| 0:36.0 | Yeah. |
| 0:36.8 | Bit of sport. |
| 0:37.6 | No, I would say, look, so it's funny, |
| 0:39.0 | because if all this had been happening six months, thought after a lag it's really been returning to form of late. I agree. I agree. A bit of sport. |
| 0:42.3 | No, I would say, it's funny, because if all this had been happening six months ago, Patrick, |
| 0:50.6 | I would say the chances of Kemi Beidnog weighing in on Peter Mandelson are high, but not 100%, because she might decide to do something really bizarre. |
| 0:53.4 | But I think she's grown out of that. These days, it's |
| 0:56.4 | 150% or whatever mathematically incorrect formulation you want to use, yeah. Yeah. Yeah. What do you, |
| 1:04.3 | I mean, what angle do you think she's going to pick? What did Stalman know when? There'll be a lot of Morgan |
| 1:10.0 | McSweeney, the Prime Minister's Chief of Staff in this. |
| 1:13.0 | And who knows? |
| 1:13.8 | She might have uncovered something that the Prime Minister hasn't prepared for. |
| 1:17.2 | Whatever it is, I think it's going to be awful for the Prime Minister. |
| 1:19.8 | Yeah. |
| 1:20.2 | Look, I should say, Marcus, we have not extensively vetted you before having you sitting here. |
| 1:23.8 | No. |
... |
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