The Prime Minister v Olly Robbins
Newscast
BBC
4.3 • 6.6K Ratings
🗓️ 21 April 2026
⏱️ 34 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
Today, Olly Robbins the sacked former Foreign Office chief, says number 10 had a “dismissive” attitude to the vetting of Lord Mandelson.
Robbins told MPs when he took over the role there was "already a very very strong expectation" from No 10 that Mandelson "needed to be in post and in America as quickly as possible". Downing Street has denied showing a "dismissive" approach to the vetting, and says Robbins made an "error of judgement".
So where does this leave the Prime Minister? Adam and Chris discuss.
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Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | BBC Sounds, Music, Radio, Podcasts. |
| 0:06.0 | Chris, I've come to Westminster to wish you happy birthday in person. |
| 0:08.7 | Oh, thank you. Welcome. |
| 0:10.1 | And I've brought... Welcome back. |
| 0:11.5 | A cake. |
| 0:12.0 | Oh, ha, ha. This is terrific. |
| 0:14.0 | So not only are we in this episode back in the original home of newscast and indeed Brexit cast, cake returns. |
| 0:23.5 | Cake returns. |
| 0:24.3 | Which was the central plank of the pod in its early years. |
| 0:29.3 | Can I cut a slice? |
| 0:30.1 | Please do. |
| 0:31.2 | It's chocolate and pistachio. |
| 0:33.2 | So a very, very fashionable flavour. |
| 0:36.0 | Is that right? |
| 0:36.7 | It's pistachio. |
| 0:37.2 | Pasture's so in right now. In fact, I think it's maybe post in. I think very, very fashionable flavour. Is that right? It's pistachios. Pistachios so in right now. |
| 0:38.3 | Oh, is it right? |
| 0:38.7 | In fact, I think it's maybe post in. |
| 0:40.8 | I think it's a bit too ubiquitous now. |
| 0:42.3 | How is it? Can I recommend though you don't eat any now? Okay. Wait till we've done the podcast, then you can eat some. Fair enough. This is a test of willpower for the next half an hour. |
| 0:50.8 | Some people react quite bad later |
| 0:52.2 | to hearing other people eating. |
... |
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