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Chapter 1: What triggered the discussion about Lord Mandelson's security vetting?
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Hello. I don't want to bore you with newscast process.
But hey, you love Rosas, you listen to Newscast. Normally on a Thursday night, we record our TV programme, which is broadcast on BBC One after question time. And then it comes to you as a podcast on Friday. And it's a review of the week. But actually what was happening this Thursday night was that there was loads of stories breaking simultaneously.
There was the big thing happening at Westminster about the revelations about Peter Mandelson's vetting and what that meant for who knew what and what responsibility the prime minister bore for that.
But simultaneously, in Washington, Donald Trump was announcing that Israel and Lebanon had agreed a ceasefire, which was a big stumbling block to the preservation of the ceasefire between the US and Iran. So there was a heck of a lot happening.
So our Thursday night TV show, which is normally a more kind of measured, stand back, look at the week's news, what have we learned that we didn't know at the time, was more of a classic episode of Newscast when there was just breaking news happening all over the place. So that is what you will hear now.
with me in the Newscast studio and Chris at Westminster and then us joined by assorted friends of Newscast. Newscast.
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Chapter 2: What were the implications of Mandelson's failed security clearance?
Newscast from the BBC. Humanity's next great voyage begins. We are in the midst of a rupture.
Nostalgia will not bring back the old order. Six seven.
Yeah. It's supposed to be me as a doctor. Daddy has also a special connotation. Ooh la la. Thinking about it like a panto helped. Do we play music now or what do we do? Hello, it's Adam in the Newscast Studio. And it is Chris at Westminster. And in the second half of this episode, we will talk about the many, many developments happening in the world.
For example, the ceasefire that's just been announced as we're recording this episode between Israel and Lebanon, which has been announced by Donald Trump.
Chapter 3: How did the Prime Minister respond to allegations of misleading Parliament?
But first of all, that big breaking story that Chris has been working on in Westminster Thursday afternoon and Thursday evening. Chris, it's the return of the Lord Mandelson ex-ambassador to Washington story. And who knew what when about his appointment? Bring us up to date. Exactly that.
So let me walk you through what happened this afternoon and then into this evening. So just after three o'clock this afternoon, The Guardian, Pippa Carrera, their political editor and their investigations team dropped a couple of stories relating to this. Lord Mandelson and the whole business of his appointment as ambassador to Washington.
You'll remember that in the end he was sacked and it's caused the prime minister no end of grief. So in those stories around about three o'clock, the Guardian said that Lord Mandelson had failed a key element of the vetting process that was undertaken. around his appointment.
But the Foreign Office decided that it was going to, if you like, reject that advice and the government was going to crack on with the process of appointing him anyway. And of course, Lord Mendelsohn then did go out to Washington and do the job for a while.
So we then had a period of the best part of three hours in which opposition parties, Conservatives, Reform, Liberal Democrats and others, were coming out and saying, ah, the Prime Minister has misled us, including misleading the House of Commons. And if you do that and do that on purpose, that is seen as a resignation issue because there's various clips floating around.
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Chapter 4: What was revealed about the Foreign Office's role in Mandelson's appointment?
You may have seen them on social media or elsewhere of the Prime Minister talking about the vetting process. And so I assembled a piece for the six o'clock news on the telly and I had a sneaking suspicion.
Nobody had told me this, but this is a sneaking suspicion that before six o'clock and probably just before six o'clock, Downing Street or government might get round to saying something that might change the terms of this story. And sure enough. They did. In the time it took me to walk from our newsroom to our balcony where I report live for the six o'clock news, a text appears in my WhatsApps.
And sure enough, the government is saying neither the prime minister nor any government minister was aware that Peter Mandelson was granted developed vetting against the advice of UK security vetting until earlier this week. In other words, he didn't know. Which then, of course, poses the rather significant question of why did he not know?
Why was he insufficiently curious to find out about what the vetting process around an appointment of a colourful and controversial character might have concluded?
Although I suppose that statement sort of protects the Prime Minister from his point of view about the allegations that he misled Parliament.
Completely, absolutely. Because he didn't know. Because he says, and they've said it explicitly and on the record and categorically, that the Prime Minister didn't know. So yes, the criticism is already coming along the lines of, well, why didn't you know and why were you not more curious?
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Chapter 5: Who were the political figures responding to the Mandelson controversy?
But if you like, I suppose that is a second order critique relative to one where they were not able to say that statement. because it wasn't true, where politicians would say, well, hang on a minute, you have misled us and knowingly misled us. Whereas given what he is saying, he can say, well, actually, I didn't know.
I suspect we'll have him in the House of Commons on Monday, formally updating the House and acknowledging that, you know, he wasn't able to share the full facts because he wasn't in possession of the full facts at the time.
And we already know from all those emails and documents that have been released as a result of the Conservative motion in Parliament a few months ago about the Mandelson appointment, that actually one of the big themes of those documents was the PM not really being very involved after the point at which he said, let's get this guy in to be our new man in Washington.
Quite, and I think in many senses it would appear that this is a further case study or further evidence that burnishes that wider argument that the Prime Minister was insufficiently involved, that it was outsourced to others, and then the whole thing, of course... very much blew up in his face.
You know, this has been the politically most consequential decision of Keir Starmer's time in Downing Street. It was an appointment of choice, normally a senior ambassadorial appointment, let alone the most prominent of them all, ambassador in Washington, is a career civil servant. They have political, if you like, detachment and distance from any prime minister.
they're probably less likely to be caught up in some swirling political row. And instead, the decision was taken to appoint Peter Mandelson, who had left various government jobs in the past with all sorts of clouds hovering over him, was seen to be one heck of a political operator, but also seemed to come with a fair amount of baggage. Out he goes.
And then the whole thing blows up and blows up spectacularly in the Prime Minister's face. And of course, we know that this isn't the end of it because we are waiting the next, is it tranche or is it tranche, of documents to come from this process that Parliament has demanded of the government to publish loads of stuff connected to the appointment of Lord Mandelson.
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Chapter 6: What was the context of the ceasefire announcement involving Israel and Lebanon?
We were waiting for that already. And we've just had another chapter of it. And just one extra detail, which newscasters will be keen to hear,
which is the Guardian reported, and I think this is key, the Guardian reported that there was a conversation going on in government as to whether or not they would have to disclose this failure in vetting to Parliament as a result of a disclosure of all of these documents. Now, it seems to me that is quite key in what might have brought this to light at this point. Yes.
I have no idea who the Guardian sources are, and of course the Guardian will be scrupulous in protecting their sources, absolutely rightly, as any journalist should be. But that seems key, I would have thought, to what could, I'm speculating, but what could have motivated some to decide that this ought to see the light of day.
So just to be clear, Downing Street have said the first that the Prime Minister knew about this failed vetting was this week. Yes. So in the last few days.
Completely that. So earlier this week is the quote. So I guess that's presumably, you know, without those words, doing a lot of work any day this week prior to today. Thank you for explaining.
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Chapter 7: How does the Mandelson situation reflect on the Prime Minister's leadership?
We have to use the language to work out when they knew, don't we?
Completely, completely. Yes.
Because if he'd learnt yesterday, they would have said he only learnt yesterday.
Well, possibly. Yeah, possibly. Or you go for a slightly vaguer formulation or... Earlier this week, it would be a struggle, I think, to imply earlier this week if it was earlier today, even though technically that was earlier this week.
Was that, and again, I'm speculating now, but was that when the Guardian approached them and said, this is a story we're intending to run and do you want to say anything about it? Or was it as a result of something else? We don't know. But in essence, they're saying, look, we only found out this week.
Separately from that, I hear that David Lammy, the deputy prime minister and former foreign secretary, only found out about this today. Now, you know, the statement said no government minister, but that's being made clear. I also understand that Lord Mandelson himself said.
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Chapter 8: What are the potential future developments regarding Mandelson's appointment?
did not know any of this until today. He'd gone through the vetting process. There were no further questions or follow-ups, and then he was appointed and all the rest of it. So plenty of those who you might have assumed would have known about what we have discovered today, courtesy of the Guardian's reporting, are saying that they didn't know.
There's others who are yet to reply to us, but that's kind of where we are as we record this edition of Newscast.
So if no ministers knew, including up to the Prime Minister and including the Foreign Secretary at the time, David Lammy, who do we think did know?
Well, we don't know, is the honest answer. I mean, it seems to me that... Now, clearly some folk in the Foreign Office knew. And you would assume that senior folk in and around the upper echelons of government would have known. But as I say, we don't we don't know. So who knew what and when and why did they choose not to tell others is a very live and relevant question.
But we don't know the answers to those questions.
And Chris, before you came into the newscast satellite studio at Westminster, I hear you were interviewing Emily Thornberry, Dame Emily Thornberry, chair of the Foreign Affairs Select Committee, a Labour MP. She does a good line in exasperation, but she's turned the exasperation up to about 15 here at this interview.
She does do a good line in exasperation and she was absolutely exasperated. She had with her a letter, which is out there, it's in public, between the committee and the Foreign Office, where they asked... Lots of questions around the whole process of Peter Maddison's appointment. But they also asked specific questions like, were there any concerns raised?
And this is not a verbatim quote, but the essence of it. Were any concerns raised in the vetting process? And they got kind of non answers. She was saying to me.
Well, let's hear her. The newscasters can hear the exasperation for themselves.
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