Will Trump's state visit save Starmer?
Coffee House Shots
The Spectator
4.4 • 2.2K Ratings
🗓️ 16 September 2025
⏱️ 12 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
Keir Starmer has lost another aide, MPs are debating what the Prime Minister knew about Mandelson's links to Epstein and a new poll has Lucy Powell as the favourite to win Labour's deputy leadership race against education secretary Bridget Phillipson. Could things be any worse for Starmer?
With US President Donald Trump touching down at London Stansted tonight, the PM will be hoping the state visit provides an opportunity to draw a line under the past few weeks. But Trump is anything but predictable, and he likes a winner – will 'The Donald' sour on Starmer?
Produced by Patrick Gibbons.
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Transcript
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| 0:46.2 | Hello and welcome to Coffee House Shots. I'm Lissy Dunn and today I'm joined by James Heel and Tim Shipman. |
| 0:51.8 | Things could be looking much better for the Prime Minister and his Labour government. |
| 0:55.6 | In the space of a fortnight, he has lost his deputy to a tax affair scandal, prompting a reshuffle of his government. |
| 1:00.2 | He has had to sack the British ambassador to the US over Peter Mandelson's links to the paedophile Geoffrey Epstein. |
| 1:06.0 | And yesterday, news came that the PM has now lost a top aide. |
| 1:09.7 | Paul Avin Dunon, after sexually explicit |
| 1:11.5 | messages since, about Diane Abbott in 2017, came to light. Tim, the reaction to |
| 1:16.8 | Uffington's resignation in the Labour Party has been quite interesting. How significant is his departure? |
| 1:22.5 | Look, I think it's significant, because as you say, this has been a terrible period. I think |
| 1:26.7 | there are some people who think the substance of what he was accused of is, you know, pretty marginal, |
| 1:33.9 | a pretty marginal, resigning, sacking offence. And he did resign, and anyone who knows Paul knows that he's been muttering about potentially leaving for almost as long as I've known him. |
| 1:51.2 | But, you know, you lose people and it starts to get a stench of decay around your government. |
| 1:53.5 | And Ovendon is not just any old aid. |
| 1:58.0 | He's one of the few in that building who is an adept political communicator, |
... |
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