Lucy Fisher

And it's always someone else who's the fall guy.

Beyond that, the other criticism is that he is a prime minister who does not have grip on his own government.

He doesn't really know what's going on.

And so him telling MPs, you know, I didn't know about this issue with Mandelson's vetting, for some people sort of plays into that idea.

Well, you don't really never seem to know what's going on in your own government.

So while I don't think it's likely there will be any move made against him by the Labour Party this week, it adds to the sense that he could face pressure later this year to sort of set out some kind of timetable for his departure, according to some Labour MPs.

Thanks for having me, Mark.

Well, the extraordinary development that Peter Mandelson did not pass his vetting, that decision recommendation from the vetting team that he was a high risk candidate was apparently overridden by Ollie Robbins, the permanent secretary at the Foreign Office, who was sensationally sacked.

Last night.

So this morning, you know, everyone is asking, you know, who knew what when, you know, did Starmer know or in any way anyone in Downing Street direct Oliver Robbins, a civil servant, not a politician, to override the vetting team?

or was Robbins acting unilaterally, which seems incredulous to many other civil servants I've spoken to this morning.

But it's a moment of real danger for Starmer, who has failed to sort of grip or contain the fallout from this Mandelson scandal.

And a lot of MPs I've been speaking to think that, you know, it could be a very dangerous moment for him ahead as he tries to navigate this.

We don't.

The developed vetting process is incredibly in-depth.

It involves asking the person being vetted all sorts of very penetrating and impertinent questions about their sexual proclivities.

about their finances, their relationships, people they associate with, particularly from overseas.

So it's a very, very wide ranging process and we don't at the moment have any intelligence or information

on what exactly was thrown up by the process involving Mandelson.

Well, you're absolutely right to bring that up, because aside from the very technical developed vetting process, there was another exercise that went on regarding him and all senior appointments of due diligence, which does exactly what you said, doesn't go into...