Starmer’s worst week yet (after last week)
Political Currency
Persephonica
4.1 • 1.5K Ratings
🗓️ 12 February 2026
⏱️ 61 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
Keir Starmer’s standing has gone from bad to worse this week, with the Peter Mandelson scandal giving way to a series of resignations in No. 10 and the Scottish Labour leader openly calling for Starmer to go. Ed Balls and George Osborne look at what might be Starmer’s worst week yet, and assess if he can survive or if we’re reliving the final days of Boris Johnson, and Theresa May.
Away from Westminster, the Munich Security Conference begins this weekend, which means we’re one year on from JD Vance’s consequential address in which he claimed the greatest threat to the continent came from within. Has that speech set the tone for the Trump administration’s relationship with Europe? What reverberations has that had for the UK? How will European leaders manage in a world without America as a reliable ally?
Finally, they tackle one of the great debates in British politics: what do you do about the Palace of Westminster? The British parliament has been crumbling for decades and the dilemma of how to fix a working government building has been a live issue since Ed and George first left the Commons. As the issue is delayed, the costs continue to rise. They ponder the solution to this while reminiscing about crumbling offices, leaks and mice running across their feet. Is it in the British public’s interest to spend billions refurbishing the Palace of Westminster?
We love hearing from you, so please don’t forget to send all your EMQs to questions@politicalcurrency and make sure to include a voice note of your question.
Thanks for listening. To get episodes early and ad- free join Political Currency Gold or our Kitchen Cabinet. If you want even more perks including our exclusive newsletter, join our Kitchen Cabinet today:
👉 patreon.com/politicalcurrency
Please note: Kitchen Cabinet is only available via Patreon.
Credits:
Research: Sam Burton
Production: Caillin McDaid, Caitlin Caitlin Hanrahan, & Eve Jones
Video Editor: Avi Asher
Executive Producer: Ellie Clifford
Political Currency is a Persephonica Production and is part of the Acast Creator Network.
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
Transcript
Click on a timestamp to play from that location
| 0:00.0 | This is Political Coancy with Ed Balls and George Osborne. |
| 0:29.8 | So we are remote this week. |
| 0:33.7 | George is off on some trip to, I don't know, a mysterious location. |
| 0:35.8 | It will be some business visit or something. |
| 0:38.2 | Impossible to tell from the camera. I mean, your background gives nothing. You know, this is clearly not a Davos ski slope. You aren't at the |
| 0:42.8 | Winter Olympics north of Milan is my guess. I'm a citizen of the world, Ed. Everywhere is my home. |
| 0:49.4 | Wasn't that the reason why Theresa May satchi? Because you were a globaliser and therefore a citizen of nowhere. |
| 0:55.8 | Wasn't that the problem? |
| 0:56.7 | Yes. |
| 0:57.5 | She was a Davos this year actually explaining that of you. |
| 1:00.1 | Right. |
| 1:01.2 | Now, I've had loads of people coming up to me over the last week about EMQs and your revelation |
| 1:09.3 | that if Nick Clegg had asked to be Chancellor in 2010 as the |
| 1:13.6 | price for the coalition, he'd have got the job. People think, well, you know, is that really |
| 1:17.6 | right? And is George right about that? Really interesting thought, revelation, insight. But I don't |
| 1:23.4 | know if you've seen while he's been away, the Lib Dems are clearly so cross about the fact that Nick Clegg could have run the treasury and been the Chancellor. |
| 1:32.8 | If only had thought of it, they've now decided to abolish the treasury entirely. |
| 1:37.3 | Daisy Cooper, the deputy leader announced yesterday, the Treasury is going to go under the Liberal Democrats when they become the government. |
| 1:43.8 | They're going to have a Department of Growth, which is going to, I think, be based in Birmingham. Right. I don't know if you know you're influencing power from beyond the political grave, but, I mean, the Treasury is going to be got rid of because of that Nick Clegg annoyance. Yeah. I mean, my advice to my great friends of the Liberal Democrats who supported all those eight budgets I delivered |
| 2:01.5 | were great allies in the coalition government. And as Nick himself would say, we achieved, I think, |
| 2:07.8 | a great deal. We achieved it actually by having a strong treasury with a very strong Liberal Democrat. |
| 2:14.2 | That's the number two, Danny Alexander. And my advice to the Liberal Democrats |
... |
Please login to see the full transcript.
Disclaimer: The podcast and artwork embedded on this page are from Persephonica, and are the property of its owner and not affiliated with or endorsed by Tapesearch.
Generated transcripts are the property of Persephonica and are distributed freely under the Fair Use doctrine. Transcripts generated by Tapesearch are not guaranteed to be accurate.
Copyright © Tapesearch 2026.