The Prime Minister v Olly Robbins

The Prime Minister v Olly Robbins

From Newscast by BBC News

April 21, 2026 · 34 min

About this episode

Olly Robbins discusses the vetting process of Lord Mandelson and the Prime Minister's response.

Today, Olly Robbins the sacked former Foreign Office chief, says number 10 had a “dismissive” attitude to the vetting of Lord Mandelson. Robbins told MPs when he took over the role there was "already a very very strong expectation" from No 10 that Mandelson "needed to be in post and in America as quickly as possible". Downing Street has denied showing a "dismissive" approach to the vetting, and says Robbins made an "error of judgement". So where does this leave the Prime Minister? Adam and Chris discuss. You can now listen to Newscast on a smart speaker. If you want to listen, just say "Ask BBC Sounds to play Newscast”. It works on most smart speakers. You can join our Newscast online community here: https://bbc.in/newscastdiscord Get in touch with Newscast by emailing newscast@bbc.co.uk or send us a WhatsApp on +44 0330 123 9480. New episodes released every day. If you're in the UK, for more News and Current Affairs podcasts from the BBC, listen on BBC Sounds: https://bbc.in/4guXgXd Newscast brings you daily analysis of the latest political news stories from the BBC. The presenter was Adam Fleming. It was made by Jack Maclaren with Anna Harris. The social producer was . The…

People in this episode

Host: Adam Fleming

Guest: Olly Robbins

Topics covered

  • politics
  • government
  • veting
  • current affairs
  • news analysis

Keywords

  • Olly Robbins
  • Lord Mandelson
  • Downing Street
  • veting
  • politics
  • BBC News

Mentioned in this episode

Organizations: Downing Street, BBC, Foreign Office

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