Robbins revelations leave Starmer scrambling
The Daily T
The Telegraph
4.1 • 702 Ratings
🗓️ 21 April 2026
⏱️ 47 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
It’s been another bruising day for Sir Keir Starmer as Sir Olly Robbins, the former top Foreign Office official sacked over the Lord Mandelson vetting row, has broken his silence. Giving evidence to MPs at the foreign affairs select committee, he accused Downing Street of applying “constant pressure” to push the appointment through despite Mandelson failing vetting checks.
Camilla and Tim ask how damaging Sir Olly’s testimony will be to Keir Starmer, as Robbins revealed the Government didn’t even want Lord Mandelson vetted at all, and asked him to explore an ambassadorship for his now disgraced former spin doctor Matthew Doyle.
Lord Glasman, the Labour peer, also joins Camilla and Tim, saying that Sir Keir must go and that a growing number of backbenchers now agree with him.
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Producers: Georgia Coan and Lilian Fawcett
Senior Producer: John Cadigan
Executive Producer: Charlotte Seligman
Video Producer: Will Walters
Studio Operator: Meghan Searle
Editor: Camilla Tominey
Highlights
- Camilla and Tim believe Olly Robbins evidence has torn the Prime Minister's defence to shreds
- Labour peer Maurice Glasman says Starmer must go and that growing numbers of Labour backbenchers agree with him
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Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | The Telegraph. |
| 0:09.7 | Arly Robbins, the senior civil servant, sacked over the Mandelson saga, has just torn the Prime Minister's defence to shreds. |
| 0:17.5 | He has set out how Number 10 tried to stop Mandelson being vetted at all and put |
| 0:22.6 | constant pressure on officials to, quote, just effing, approve the appointment. Also, Labour |
| 0:29.6 | peer Morris Glassman says Starmer must go and tells us that growing numbers of Labour backbenchers agree with him. |
| 0:36.6 | Welcome to the Daily Tea with me, Camilla Tomini. |
| 0:39.1 | And me, Tim Stanley. |
| 0:50.3 | Tim, the Daily Tea is going on the road, and we have a new bus driver in Olly Robbins, who has proved so adept at reversing over the Prime Minister after he was thrown under the wheels of said bus. |
| 1:01.9 | Very good. |
| 1:02.3 | And we will get onto that in a minute, but we have something exciting to announce. |
| 1:05.8 | Guess who we've got for our Monday, the 27th line up in London? |
| 1:09.5 | Tell me. |
| 1:10.4 | Reform Zia Yusuf. Wow. James Cleverly from the Tories. Kaching. Rachel Rees is right-hand man. James Murray, the chief secretary to the Treasury. Very good. We're going to have some kind of three-way ding-dong. You and I are the referees. It's two Jameses and Azia. Well, what's not to love? |
| 1:28.6 | I just want them to be just slinging mud in each other's directions while we look on. |
| 1:33.3 | You, the Daily Tea, audience will have a chance to ask questions if you attend the event on Monday. |
| 1:39.0 | So make sure you get your ticket now, which can be found in the link in the episode description or on the Telegraph website. |
| 1:45.8 | We're all over the website. |
| 1:47.2 | You and me are big faces. |
| 1:49.2 | We are going to be in Cardiff on Tuesday, Warwick on Wednesday with Jacob Reesmog. |
| 1:54.3 | Wow. |
| 1:55.1 | He's going to be taking on the students there. |
| 1:56.8 | And then Thursday's event in Worthing is going to be fun. |
... |
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