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‘A spanking over Mandelson’ | PMQs Analysed
Sep 13, 2025
James O’Brien and LBC’s political editor Natasha Clark reflect on Prime Minister's Questions as Keir Starmer and Kemi Badenoch go head to head. ‘She gave him a spanking over Mandelson’ ‘This was her best performance ever’ ‘He looked shifty’ ‘She had every line written down’ ‘It is embarrassing for Starmer’ ’His answers were poor’ ‘You would expect him to have a few more lines prepared’ ‘She did well to link it to Starmer’s judgement’ ‘They danced around the idea of Trump’ ‘This story is dominating American politics too’ ‘Kemi did well on some of these questions and lost it at the end’ ‘I wonder if they just weren’t expecting so much on Mandelson’ ‘Badenoch could have hit a lot of other topics today’ Listen to the full show on Global Player: https://app.af.globalplayer.com/Br0x/LBCYouTubeLis tenLive #jamesobrien #LBC #ukpolitics #tories #labour #keirstarmer #kemibadenoch #natashaclark #angelarayner #mandelson #epstein #trump #uknews
View Video Transcript
0:00
I don't think there can be any doubt that Kemi Badenoch just gave Keir Starmer something of a spanking over his continuing loyalty to Peter Madison
0:09
But it was rather more than that. It wasn't just that she had all the ducks in a row
0:13
She dispatched them very adroitly, Natasha. It was, I would say, and we do this together every week, by some distance her best performance yet. Why
0:23
Because she acted in a way and she went at a forensic line of questioning that she should have done last week with Angela Rayner
0:30
And she was unable to think nimbly enough on her feet to do that then
0:35
And clearly she was under such pressure from her Tory backbenches. They wanted her to do well
0:43
They wanted her to poke at this hole, I think. And I think she delivered a very forensic and probing line of questioning
0:51
They sounded sensible questions. Keir Starmer was robotic in his answers. He gave full support
0:58
and, yeah, I just don't think it was a fantastic answer from Sir Keir Starmer
1:02
No, he looked shady. He looked shifty. She looked very strong. I don't know that I'd agree with that nimbleness or fleet of foot
1:08
I think what she got right... She had four hours this time to watch the interview
1:12
And she had every line written down. I mean, that was... I think she was reading
1:16
I didn't... I was listening, not watching. Yeah, they all felt very scripted questions. But that's a good thing to do sometimes
1:22
If you're going to stick with the same subject, which is what you said she should have done last week, then you can do that
1:26
You can construct your questions in such a way that creates a pinsome movement
1:31
So you take the answer or the failure to answer the last one and then go in with the old one-two as a boxing coach
1:37
Exactly. So she sort of started off, you know, saying, do you have full confidence in him
1:41
He said yes. That was basically the only question he was really able to answer
1:46
Went on to sort of ask how much he was aware of the relationship
1:50
which I think is probably going to go to the heart of where this criticism of Peter Mandelson will come in the next few days
1:55
how much did the Prime Minister know about his links to Epstein? And if so, can you really say that the full proper process of vetting
2:02
was followed in all ways? And like you've been discussing, we don't have any proof
2:06
that there was anything improper that went on. But, as Kimmy Bader not just mentioned, they were friends with him
2:14
Actually, he was talking about, when he made those comments about being best pals with him, was during the time
2:19
when he was abusing people and later convicted of doing so. how much can you really be aware of somebody who you will call your best pal is doing so Is it really fair to say that Yeah best pal is a bit of a you know it quite a claim isn it And crucially again as we were contemplating in the last hour the maintaining of contacts although this isn a new revelation
2:42
the maintaining of contacts after the imprisonment is an extraordinarily ill-advised. Absolutely
2:49
For this type of crime, if it was a financial crime, you could perhaps argue loyalty, or if it was a victimless crime
2:55
if such a thing exists, you could perhaps argue loyalty. I will stand by my friends through thick and thin
3:00
But not this type of crime. Exactly. After conviction and after, you know
3:04
knowing the details which we did. It is embarrassing for the government
3:09
It's embarrassing for Keir Starmer to have to answer these questions. But I thought that his answers weren't fantastic, actually
3:14
And I wonder... They were poor. They were down by poor. It felt maybe that he hadn't prepared quite as many answers on that
3:19
as he could have done. Or it felt like he's not actually four square behind Mandelson. Potentially
3:23
Although why would he say he's got full confidence in him and he's doing an important role? He either says that or he's gone already
3:28
If he's still there, he's got full confidence. But in that case, you would expect him to have a few more lines prepared
3:32
in terms of the details of that. What I knew... You know, Mandelson said in that interview earlier today
3:37
that he hadn't spoken to Starmer since these revelations have come out over the last 48 hours or so, which does..
3:42
Not good. It's not a good look. But actually, I thought what she did with linking it to Keir Starmer's judgment
3:47
and linking it to last week with Angela Rayner was quite good. I thought it was very weird that Keir Starmer then mentioned
3:54
say, oh, these are the questions you should have asked me last week. That felt like an odd, you know, why mention
3:59
He was the one that mentioned Angela Rayner. I know where you're coming from, but his..
4:03
And that didn't sound off the cuff either. It sounded as if something had got that prepared in advance
4:07
because he knows how much trouble she got into with her own members, so he's just reminding them how rubbish she was last week
4:14
But, and here's a failure to be fleet of foot, that only works if she's being a bit rubbish again this week
4:20
If she's actually playing a blinder this week and you say, yeah, well, you were rubbish last week
4:23
you end up sounding a bit pathetic. Yeah. And just a word about sort of the optics in the chamber
4:28
which we obviously can't hear, but you can pick up a little on. Didn't feel like there was really much noise at all
4:34
until the very end, obviously. And you hear the cheers from the Tory benches and the more, more, more
4:38
I don't think I can remember any Tory benches calling for more from Camille Baden-Ock
4:43
That was quite cathartic for them. You could tell it wasn't just today they were cheering
4:49
They really needed a win. I think there was a release of pent-up tension that they were going to fill their boots with
4:56
There's a weird bit here, though, isn't there? Because, I mean, Starmer has, some would say, sucked up to Trump
5:03
Others would say very cleverly and diplomatically kept him sweet Badenoc has been very forthcoming in her praise for him and all of this despite him essentially being on the hook
5:16
for all of the things, or almost all of the things, that Mandelson is accused of, and quite possibly more
5:22
But neither of them can say it. I was surprised Ed Davey didn't, but neither of them
5:28
Neither Starmer can't defend or at least distract from Mandelson by saying, what about Trump
5:34
for obvious reasons. And Badenock has put herself in a position where she can't do that either
5:39
And they danced around that a little bit, didn't they? And they sort of used Poland and what's been happening overnight
5:43
as a sort of excuse to sort of talk about the serious issues that we have to discuss with America
5:48
But you're right, they danced around the idea of Donald Trump, they danced around the idea of the state visit
5:52
and about what Kemi Badenock has heaped praise on him in the past. Knowing now what we know about those links
6:00
And like you say, again, this is not new. everybody has known these links for some time and it does sort of call into question Keir's
6:07
judgment in this equally the reason that Peter Mandelson was appointed was because of his extensive
6:12
links to the you know the Trump campaign and and the government there because that was something
6:17
that was seen at the time that Keir Stummer's government did not have those relationships that
6:21
were solidly in place so there was a reason for his appointment and I don't think anybody will
6:25
argue that it's not a good thing to have people who you know have very good links to the current
6:30
administration so that's why he's in the job in the first place um it's a it's an interesting one
6:35
isn't it i i'm not very good at reading the runes on these sort of developments and when a story's
6:40
going to go away and when it's going to grow um although i am i don't think so i think you
6:44
nailed it with angela rayner last week you're very kind i may have got it wrong in the very
6:48
first instance but i quickly made a man you quickly decided actually this is what she's got
6:53
to go she's on the way out for the reasons that she she eventually went for i i i can't see this
6:58
one as clearly because unless something new emerges that he can claim he didn't know it's
7:05
going to be very hard to get rid of him for things that he either did know or could easily have found
7:10
out before making the original appointment yeah and i think if you're number 10 today you'll be
7:14
wanting to see all of those documents that were were part of peter mandelson's vetting right you
7:19
want to be seeing everything but peter mandelson admitting in that interview that he thinks that
7:23
more potential revelations will come out he said he doesn't believe he's named in the epstein files
7:27
at all but this story is completely dominating American politics in many ways and has been for
7:31
weeks. Despite Donald Trump's best efforts to make it go away and claim that it's what they
7:36
sometimes call in the States a nothing burger Yeah but yeah Kimmy did well on some of these questions We both I think shared a view that maybe at the end she lost it a little She lost the sort of authority that she maybe had at the start
7:49
She got a bit too excited with how well she was doing, I think. Yeah, I think she got a bit angry
7:55
She started talking a bit quicker. It got a bit more chaotic towards the end there. But, you know, like I say, I think she had some good lines there
8:01
I don't think Keir Starmer had enough, you know, enough comebacks and enough evidence
8:06
If I were number 10 Downing Strike, I would have dug out a lot of positive things to say about Peter Mandelson
8:11
if I was going to go in for a full-throated defence of him, not just answering a robotic
8:15
The full process was, you know, done at all times, sort of answer from him. I wonder if they just got it wrong
8:22
I wonder if they just were not expecting four or five questions on Mandelson, which would be a mistake, I think
8:28
They should at least have spotted the possibility. But it did look at two things I would take away from that, both of which could be completely..
8:35
Well, three, because, again, to somewhat labour the point, she had a blinder
8:40
80% of what she did there was the best she's ever been. But you can't, as number 10
8:45
just assume that Kimmy Bateman isn't going to be very good. You have to be prepared. So the two other things would be, number one
8:51
if I was Peter Mandelson listening to that, I'd be worried. Yep, absolutely
8:57
And number two or three, depending on when you started counting, they were expecting her to jump around more because she always does
9:08
Yeah, and to be fair, actually, I thought there was a lot of things she could have gone on. She could have gone on the tax stuff
9:12
She could have gone on the welfare tax. She could have gone on Mandelson. She could have gone on Poland
9:16
There's lots of things. Rainer, of course. And she did weave in Rainer a little bit, didn't she
9:20
She could have gone on a lot of topics today. And it depends. Sometimes you can really, really easily
9:26
If you've got a theme to draw this whole thing around, you can really easily go on lots of different topics
9:31
if you've got one common theme to tie them all together. And I thought that's what she might do
9:35
But she's not tended to be very good at that. And when she has done that kind of tactic in the past
9:40
it hasn't worked. Budget and the economy, we know that she's regularly using this
9:44
So Keir Starmer, in a way, is more prepared for those answers than he ever was before. He's now got a really, really good crib sheet
9:50
He's not been asked about this before. This is a new topic. And actually, you know, the fact that she'd prepared
9:55
she's got enough answers, she's got enough questions. Yeah, it definitely left Keir Starmer on the back foot today, didn't it
10:01
It did, yes. I would say indubitably in my inbox would support that conclusion
10:07
although someone described it as scoring an open goal when your team is still being relegated
10:12
Well, she didn't manage to score an open goal last week. She missed an open goal last week, so that's a win
10:16
Exactly. By any measure
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