The Week: How Keir Starmer Survived
Newscast
BBC
4.3 • 6.6K Ratings
🗓️ 13 February 2026
⏱️ 31 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
Today, we’re looking back on a tumultuous week for the Prime Minister.
James and Chris are joined by Tim Shipman, political editor of The Spectator, and Professor Jane Green, Director of Nuffield Politics Research Centre and President of the British Polling Council. They discuss the Prime Minister’s moment of ‘peril’, what we’ve learned about Keir Starmer’s leadership and… which surprising celebrity ended up on the shortlist to become US ambassador.
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Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | BBC Sounds, music, radio, podcasts. |
| 0:07.5 | We definitely do not have quiet days anymore in American politics. |
| 0:12.5 | Our podcast will help you cut through all the noise. |
| 0:15.9 | Make sense of what's happening in the US, with new podcast episodes arriving throughout the week. |
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| 0:24.3 | Hello, this is the newscast, which goes out on BBC One, and that is where we wrap up |
| 0:28.9 | all the week's news, and it's coming to you here as a podcast. And this week is me, Chris, |
| 0:33.6 | the journalist Tim Shipman, and Professor Jane Green. Here we go. |
| 0:40.3 | Newscast from the BBC. |
| 0:43.1 | Fat boy sliver me in the classroom doing our violin lessons. |
| 0:44.7 | I was the tappletail in the class. |
| 0:46.0 | Can I have an apology, please? |
| 0:47.4 | I trust almost nobody. |
| 0:50.1 | Then daddy has to sometimes do strong language. |
| 0:51.7 | Next time in Moscow. |
| 0:53.5 | I feel delulu with no salulu. |
| 1:10.8 | Take me down to Downey Street. Let's go have a tour. Blimey. Hello, it's James in the newscast studio. And it's Chris in the newscast studio. And also joining us this week is Professor Jane Green, who is Director of Nuffield Politics Research Centre and President of the British Polling Council. Hello, Jane. |
| 1:11.3 | Hello. |
| 1:28.1 | And with us too is Tim Shipman, political editor of The Spectator magazine. Hi, Tim. Hi. Thank you for coming in. Now, this is the episode of newscasts where we take stock of the week's events. And I think this week we need to cast our minds all the way back, not to Monday, but to Sunday, when Morgan McSweeney, |
| 1:32.9 | the Prime Minister's Chief of Staff, resigned following the scandal surrounding Peter Mandelson and Geoffrey Epstein. Now, Tim, you've written a pretty remarkable, quite long piece, has to be |
| 1:38.5 | said, for the spectator. I thought it was short by academic standards. It was really brilliant. It was very, very good. Paid by the word, I'm sure. And what did you learn in your reporting for this piece about how central Morgan McSweeney was to Team Starmar. And what was going on behind the scenes of his departure? Let's start with Morgan McSweeney. Yeah, well, look, I mean, he, Keir Starmar has never had Morgan McSweeney not at his side while he's |
| 2:05.0 | been the leader of the Labour Party, and they've been through highs and lows, and they've, you know, evolved their project. But McSweeney is a very political character, and I think it's fair to say that Starma isn't particularly. |
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