The Edition: ‘Keir Starmer has become Boris Johnson!’
Best of the Spectator
The Spectator
4.3 • 825 Ratings
🗓️ 23 April 2026
⏱️ 40 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
In this week’s podcast, the panel unpacks Tim Shipman’s explosive cover story, including a leaked message suggesting just how closely Starmer backed Mandelson’s appointment from the start – and why the Prime Minister is now struggling to shift responsibility as the fallout grows.
Host Lara Prendergast is joined by William Moore, historian Peter Frankopan and Prue Leith to assess whether this is a moment of real political danger for Starmer – or simply another Westminster storm. As comparisons with Boris Johnson mount, they ask whether Labour’s internal critics will act, what alternatives (if any) exist, and why the deeper problem may be a striking lack of talent across British politics.
Also on the episode: could Reform capitalise on voter frustration – and are Britain’s insurgent parties ready for power? What should we expect from Donald Trump’s looming state visit – and why the monarchy may matter more than Downing Street in managing him? Plus, is the American Dream fading, or simply evolving under economic strain?
And finally: from overlooked women at Nuremberg to the cultural stigma around ageing, the panel explores how history is written – and who gets written out of it.
Produced by Patrick Gibbons and Oscar Edmondson.
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | How do you make sense of this turbulent world? How do you stay informed, amused and entertained at a time of turbulence? |
| 0:07.2 | Well, by subscribing to the spectator. We have the finest writers in the English-speaking world |
| 0:12.5 | making sense of the crazy times in which we live. If you want access to the most authoritative |
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| 0:31.5 | Hello and welcome to The Edition from The Spectator. I'm Laura Prendergast, The Spectator's Executive Editor, |
| 0:40.4 | and the latest issue of the magazine has just gone to press. |
| 0:44.9 | To discuss what's in it, I'm joined now by our features editor |
| 0:48.1 | and the co-host of this podcast, William Moore, |
| 0:51.4 | the academic and historian Peter Frankapan, |
| 0:54.0 | and the broadcaster and restaurateur, |
| 0:57.0 | Prue Leith. |
| 0:59.0 | This suite's cover has the headline, Keir Karma, and in it Tim Shipman examines how |
| 1:05.0 | Kier Starma has become everything he once opposed. |
| 1:09.0 | So, well, I wanted to go to you first, because this piece by Tim |
| 1:12.0 | starts with this fairly explosive text message that Tim has got hold of. Could you set out what's in |
| 1:17.5 | it and what it tells us? Well, Tim Shipman, once again, proving why he's the very best. He has got |
| 1:22.8 | hold of a text message sent from Kirstarmer to Peter Mandelson the night before Starrma announced the |
| 1:31.2 | appointment of Peter Mandelson as the UK's ambassador in Washington. And he says, you'll be brilliant |
| 1:37.5 | in challenging circumstances. And after many years of our discussions, we get to work together |
| 1:43.7 | side by side. I really look forward to |
| 1:45.7 | that. I mean, so how Tim managed to get hold of this is just one of Tim's amazing qualities. |
| 1:52.6 | But I think what Tim's piece is so good at doing is it gets across how you can get into the |
... |
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