Mandelson mess and Middle East U-turns

It has been a week of red faces for party leaders. On Thursday, Keir Starmer apologised and took personal responsibility for the appointment of Peter Mandelson as UK ambassador to the US – after a first round of document disclosures suggested the prime minister was largely absent from the decision-making process. Meanwhile, Nigel Farage and Kemi Badenoch were both busy executing awkward U-turns on their earlier vocal support for a US war on Iran that is proving distinctly unpopular with UK voters.

Host Lucy Fisher is joined by the FT’s deputy political editor Jim Pickard, columnist and writer of the ‘Inside Politics’ newsletter Stephen Bush, and political editor George Parker to debate the twists and turns of the week in Westminster.

Clip from: The Mirror

Follow Lucy on X: @LOS_Fisher, and Bluesky: @lucyfisher.ft.com; Jim: @PickardJE and @pickardje.bsky.social; Stephen: @stephenkb and @stephenkb.bsky.social; and George: @GeorgeWParker and @georgewparker.bsky.social

Want more?

Mandelson papers: what do they show?

Pressure grows on Starmer over Mandelson due diligence

Embarrassing Iran U-turn for the right, but Keir Starmer’s problems are worse

The irrepressible Nigel Farage

Sign up to Stephen Bush's morning newsletter ‘Inside Politics’ for straight-talking insight into the stories that matter, plus puns and tongue (mostly) in cheek analysis.

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Political FIx is presented by Lucy Fisher and produced by Laurence Knight.

The executive producer is Flo Phillips. Audio mix by Breen Turner.

The FT’s head of audio is Cheryl Brumley.

Our email address is politicalfix@ft.com

Read a transcript of this episode on FT.com

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