The ‘Not Fit For Purpose’ Department - Part 3
Newscast
BBC
4.3 • 6.6K Ratings
🗓️ 4 April 2026
⏱️ 42 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
As an Easter treat, we thought we’d give you something a bit different.
Adam and Chris have got together to have a proper in depth look at the government department that deals with some of the most important and politically pertinent issues of our time - the Home Office.
The idea came up in October last year when Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood took over and said it was “not yet fit for purpose” and had been “set up to fail”.
She was channelling her predecessor of 20 years ago, John Reid, who first made the ‘not fit for purpose’ phrase famous.
With the help of former insiders and home secretaries, we’re asking, if the same verdict can be reached twenty years apart, are the problems in the department fundemental?
In this third of three episodes in the series, Adam and Chris are joined by home and legal affairs correspondent Dominic Casciani, to reflect on what we’ve heard, hear what the department is like to cover, and look at what Shabana Mahmood is looking to change things.
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The presenters were Adam Fleming and Chris Mason. It was made by the series producer Chris Flynn with Harry Craig. The technical producer was Michael Regaard. The social producer was Grace Braddock. The assistant editor is Chris Gray. The senior news editor is Sam Bonham.
Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | BBC Sounds, Music, Radio, Podcasts. |
| 0:05.8 | Chris, we've reassembled for episode three of our Home Office mini-series. |
| 0:09.3 | The final episode. |
| 0:10.6 | Return of the Home Office. |
| 0:13.1 | The first of Star Wars. |
| 0:14.2 | The completion of the box set. |
| 0:17.1 | The trilogy. |
| 0:17.8 | And what we thought we do now is look at some very topical issues. So the sort of things that we cover on newscast normally, but with the benefit of the hindsight that we've obtained from the previous two episodes. And we also thought we would look at what it's like covering the Home Office as journalists. So that is what you'll hear in this third episode in the newscast series about the Home Office. |
| 0:37.9 | Newscast. Newscast. |
| 0:38.6 | Newscast from the BBC. |
| 0:40.4 | Our system is not fit for purpose. |
| 0:43.2 | The Home Office was a graveyard for politicians. |
| 0:45.7 | It's not a poison chalice. It's a three-course meal with coffee and dessert. |
| 0:49.4 | We have been doing something about it. |
| 0:50.9 | A plane taking off to Rwanda. That's my dream. |
| 0:53.8 | I wish it were possible to say that |
| 0:55.7 | there isn't a problem here. Hello, it's Adam in the newscast studio. And it is Chris at home for this one. |
| 1:02.7 | And joining me in the studio is Home and Legal Affairs correspondent for the BBC and very good |
| 1:06.4 | friend of newscast Dominic Kashiani. Hello, Dom. Hi, how you doing? Very well, thank you. |
| 1:15.1 | Before we look at the topical issues around the home office and the things that we're covering as news stories about the home office now, Chris, I just thought maybe we should have a couple |
| 1:19.9 | of big thoughts about what we've heard previously. Can I start with a small thought? |
| 1:23.4 | Any size thought. I just thought as we were introducing ourselves then that I am in my home office, talking about the home office. |
... |
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