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Chapter 1: What is the main topic discussed in this episode?
Hey there, we are Indosport with me, John Molloy. We cover sport and we have things like this.
If you ask Arsenal's defenders, Gabriel and Saliba, to play in that PSG team or that Bayern team, they would be exposed as much as those centre-backs were last night. Because effectively, the attackers were on top. Then you ask the question, how many defenders were actually on the pitch last night? Because none of the full-backs have no interest in defending. They're like wingers.
And I've seen Saliba and Gabriel in an open game in that League Cup semi-final doubleheader against Newcastle last season get torn apart by Izak.
I won't have anyone convince me that they can defend in that space. This is an Irish Independent Podcast. It's a scandal that has claimed the careers of high-profile figures in Downing Street. We're getting notification that Number 10 has confirmed that Morgan McSweeney has resigned as the Prime Minister's Chief of Staff.
And now the controversy surrounding Peter Mandelson is once again dominating British politics.
I should not have appointed Peter Mandelson. I take responsibility for that decision. And I apologise again.
Keir Starmer's decision to appoint Peter Mandelson as UK ambassador to the US, the UK's most sensitive diplomatic post, may prove to be his undoing. It's emerged Mandelson failed security vetting before taking up the post, but was appointed regardless.
Now with deep divisions emerging over the appointment... And he feels not only has Starmer thrown him under the bus, he's reversed over him a couple of times as well.
Questions are being asked about Starmer's judgement and whether his leadership is now on borrowed time. And as Starmer and his Labour government grapple with scandal and instability, political allegiance is shifting elsewhere.
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Chapter 2: What triggered the controversy surrounding Peter Mandelson's appointment?
He was very precise with his words and he said that number 10 took a dismissive attitude to the vetting.
Certainly the handover briefing I was getting as I arrived at post was what I felt was a generally dismissive attitude to his vetting clearance. The focus was on getting Mandelson out to Washington quickly.
He said that Mandelson was given access to the Foreign Office building and higher classification briefings even before he was granted security clearance. And he said that the whole number 10 apparatus had created this atmosphere of pressure, which made it almost impossible to deny clearance for Mandelson. And of course, he'd already been announced for the job in the first place.
The Prime Minister's nominee had been put out there to the public, announced for blessed by the king, agreed by the US government, against that backdrop, the Foreign Office saying, OK, but sorry, we can't grant him clearance, would have been a very, very difficult problem.
So, Ollie Robbins putting the knife in, he feels he's done nothing wrong, and he feels not only has Starmer thrown him under the bus, he's reversed over him a couple of times as well.
Well, Downing Street still hasn't explained why Peter Mandelson failed the vetting process in the first place. But he was appointed to the most, as they say, the most sensitive diplomatic post. So I presume he would have access to a lot of, you know, very sensitive information that So when you take all that into account, failing the vetting process, how significant is that?
It's bad. It's very bad. I mean, they look at you. They look at your character. They sit down with you. There's a verbal interview, a questionnaire. They look at your financial history. They're looking at every aspect of you as a person. Can you be blackmailed? Is there anything in your private life?
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Chapter 3: How did Keir Starmer respond to the Mandelson scandal?
They ask you very blunt questions about sexual history, internet usage, your lifestyle, your beliefs. You know, and I'm speaking now, say if it was one of us as an Irish person in a million years going to work at the high level in the UK government, they will be asking about your background, your views on Irish politics. Have you any links to Republican organizations?
They would ask about your partner. They would ask you about your bank statements, you know, have you any financial problems? They're looking at anything that is going to cause embarrassment or lead to you being possibly manipulated by a foreign actor or state. And that's the process that all these diplomats sail through, because if you look at any of the top level people I've met, you know,
you'd be hard pushed to get an opinion out of them on anything. Vanilla is the phrase that comes to mind. And I'm sorry to say, Peter Mandelson turned out to be anything but vanilla.
So with this kind of drip feed of information that we've been getting since September regarding Mandelson and his appointment, it seems what people really want is transparency. So will Parliament now get to see Mandelson's vetting documents?
So this is very much a live question, they say, under consideration at the top level of Starmer's government. Now, in February, the UK Parliament did vote for this motion known as a humble address to compel the government to publicly release all papers relating to the Mandelson appointment. Now, It's interesting that they've released some, but then the Metropolitan Police got involved.
There is a live investigation into Peter Mandelson, allegations of misconduct in public office. So there was that side of it as well with the police saying, well, hang on, don't release all the documentation because it might jeopardise police. what we're doing. So there's a split, basically, between government, the foreign office, the metropolitan police.
But I think ultimately, all those documents will have to see the light of day if Starmer's to get through this.
And we saw Starmer coming under sustained pressure in the Commons this week. And whoever keen number 10 might be for this to all blow over, it doesn't look like it's going anywhere. So how do you see this playing out in the coming days and weeks? And who else is likely to weigh in?
Well, I think what's going to happen is Tuesday next week, this Foreign Affairs Select Committee have demanded that Morgan McSweeney, formerly of McCroom County Cork and formerly Starmer's right-hand man... Keir Starmer took his directions from Morgan McSweeney.
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Chapter 4: How is the Green Party's rise impacting UK politics?
Hey there, we are Indosport with me, Joe Malloy. We cover sport and we have things like this.
If you ask Arsenal's defenders, Gabriel and Saliba, to play in that PSG team or that Bayern team, they would be exposed as much as those centre-backs were last night. Because effectively, the attackers were on top. Then you ask the question, how many defenders were actually on the pitch last night?
Chapter 5: Who is Zack Polanski and what are his political strategies?
Because none of the full-backs have no interest in defending. They're like wingers. And I've seen Saliba and Gabriel in an open game in that League Cup semi-final doubleheader against Newcastle last season get torn apart by Izak. I won't have anyone convince me that they can defend in that space.
And with Stormer's government continuing to flounder, the stage is now wide open for a new political act. And last week, we looked at the rise of reform under Nigel Farage. But on the other side of the UK political spectrum, the Green Party are experiencing quite a significant rise in support.
They are under the leadership of a man called Zach Polanski. Now, the Greens are doing really, really well. They're on 18% in the polls. The Conservative Party are on 19%. You know, the Greens are pushing ahead of Labour, one percentage point ahead of Labour. Zach Polanski, very charismatic guy, big on social media. He's an excellent interviewee.
I see people trying to knock him out with questions and he lands the punches. You know, he's a very, very smart guy. He's interesting. He's gay. He's Jewish. He has an extraordinary capacity to get young people to engage with politics. And under his leadership, the Green Party is just getting stronger and stronger.
And I think he is going to cause Starmer a lot of problems at these local elections in England in May, on May 7th. and in the national polls in Scotland and Wales as well.
I think for decades people have had enough of the Labour Party and the Conservative Party. What I'm offering is a positive politics that's about hope and not just abstract ideas, but tangible ideas to lower people's bills.
So talk to me a little bit about Zach Polenski's life before he entered politics.
Yes, so born in 1982, he grew up in Salford, just outside Manchester. He went to university in Aberystwyth in Wales. He ended up in Hackney in the east end of London. And basically, he got into politics a little bit late on, pretty unconventional path. Previously, he'd worked as an actor. He was a hypnotherapist. He was a mental health counsellor.
And then he joins the Green Party in 2017, having previously been in the Liberal Democrats. Worked his way up through all the local outlets, got into City Hall, Deputy Leader to 2022, and then Leader of the Greens in September 25. And they have gone off like a rocket since he joined and took hold of the party.
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