Rebecca Hutson, Editor-in-Chief of The News Movement, assesses the embarrassment for the Labour Party over Peter Mandelson’s dismissal following a series of high-profile resignations.
00:00But, you know, it's so interesting because we obviously saw Keir Starmer really standing by him.
00:07And we know that Angela Rayner just a week ago also lost her position.
00:13So right now, how embarrassing is this for the Labour Party?
00:18Because, as I said, it's not the first high profile sacking in recent times.
00:24And Starmer seems to be going through these top leadership MPs.
00:28Absolutely. So as you say, we had Angela Rayner resigning last week from her role as Deputy Leader of the Labour Party, Deputy Prime Minister and Housing Secretary over the unpaid tax bill.
00:39We've had Tulip Sadiq, Roshanara Ali, Louise Haig.
00:43You know, we've had some serious high ranking Labour officials having to resign within the first year of government.
00:50Could not have happened at a worse time for Starmer.
00:52As you guys will know, you know, the Reform Party here is topping the polls.
00:56Keir Starmer's favourability and that of the Labour government is, you know, the polling is in the floor for them.
01:02They came back in September after recess. They had a new plan for a renewal.
01:06This was, you know, year two of their government. It was all about delivery.
01:09And instead, they have been kind of bombarded by bad news and headlines.
01:13And I think, as you say, this really does call Keir Starmer's judgment into question.
01:17You know, the appointment of Angela Rayner, standing by her, waiting until the Ethics and Standards Commission have ruled that she'd broken the rules and then getting rid of her.
01:27And then the initial support for Mandelson and then what we saw this morning.
01:30You know, the government is in turmoil.
01:32And it's at a time when Starmer really needed to be showing a kind of show of stability and strength as they try and get those poll ratings back to where they need to be.
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