Starmer on the brink: How long can the PM survive?
The Daily T
The Telegraph
4.1 • 702 Ratings
🗓️ 17 April 2026
⏱️ 40 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
Sir Keir Starmer’s premiership is on the brink after it emerged that Peter Mandelson failed his vetting for the post of US ambassador, but was still appointed anyway.
The Prime Minister says he wasn’t told and is “furious”, and Foreign Office civil servant Sir Olly Robbins has already become the latest “fall guy” for the Mandelson appointment, but Camilla and Jacob Rees-Mogg say Starmer is “either a knave or a fool” and must ultimately now fall on his sword.
Camilla and Sir Jacob also look at the options for who might replace the Prime Minister if and when he resigns, with Ed Milliband and Angela Rayner seemingly top of the list.
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Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | The Telegraph |
| 0:07.0 | The Prime Minister is once again on the brink over the Peter Mandelson saga |
| 0:15.0 | and the public are rightly asking, is Kirstama a crook or a fool? |
| 0:20.0 | Either way he must go. |
| 0:22.5 | The doctrine of ministerial responsibility means the buck stops with him, whether he knew or not. |
| 0:29.2 | Welcome to The Daily Tea with me, Camilla Tomini. |
| 0:32.1 | And me, Jacob Rees-Mogg. |
| 0:33.3 | Thank you. Jacob, we're going to have an emergency daily tea today. |
| 0:49.0 | We had planned to take a breather from broadcasting. |
| 0:52.3 | I was going to write the column. |
| 0:53.3 | You're in Somerset in front of the most spectacular pair of curtains I've ever seen. |
| 0:59.7 | Yes, absolutely. |
| 1:00.7 | Well, here we both are. |
| 1:01.6 | Back again. |
| 1:02.8 | I thought you've done with me yesterday and would be back to the great Stanley in future. |
| 1:07.6 | But here we are. |
| 1:08.5 | I suppose I'm Dr. Livingston. |
| 1:12.3 | Indeed. And I'm in the process of derosting my freezer, which is, that's all of the parts of it. That's the freezer door open |
| 1:17.9 | there, which is why I've angled this suspiciously over here. But the point is, we are back together |
| 1:23.5 | because I think the Prime Minister is in real trouble now with the revelation that the foreign |
| 1:32.0 | office knew that Peter Mandelson had failed the vetting. The Prime Minister is in trouble |
| 1:39.0 | whatever the truth is. He's adopting this not me, gov, I didn't know. And that could well be true. I mean, the truth is. He's adopting this, not me, gov, I didn't know. And that could well be true. |
... |
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