Mandarin mayhem

After another torrid week for the prime minister, the focus has shifted from No 10 to Whitehall as the UK’s top civil servant is shown the door. Cabinet secretary Sir Chris Wormald had been in the job for less than 14 months, and his departure — following the resignations of Sir Keir Starmer’s chief of staff and communications director — has intensified questions about the PM’s judgment over key appointments. While Starmer’s cabinet appears to have rallied behind him in the short term, the impending release of further documents relating to Lord Peter Mandelson’s time as UK ambassador to the US looms large. Host Lucy Fisher is joined by the FT’s deputy opinion editor Miranda Green, columnist and writer of the Inside Politics newsletter Stephen Bush and public policy editor Chris Smyth. Follow: Lucy @LOS_Fisher and @ lucyfisher.ft.com ; Stephen @stephenkb and @stephenkb.bsky.social; Miranda @greenmiranda and @greenmirandahere.bsky.social; & Chris @Smyth_Chris and @chris-smyth.bsky.social Want more? Keir Starmer faces backlash over ousting of Britain’s top civil servant Political crises lead to ‘perma-purdah’ in Whitehall Westminster fears release of ‘embarrassing’ exchanges in Mandelson data dump Keir Starmer’s route to recovery The Labour Party has become devoid of purpose Sign up here f or Stephen’s morning newsletter Inside Politics for straight-talking insight into the stories that matter, plus puns and tongue (mostly) in cheek views. Get 30 days free. Political Fix is presented by Lucy Fisher and produced by Clare Williamson. The executive producer is Flo Phillips. Audio mix by Sean McGarrity. Original music by Breen Turner. The FT’s head of audio is Cheryl Brumley. Our email address is political fix@ft.com Clip from Channel 4 News Read a transcript of this episode on FT.com Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

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Mandarin mayhem is an episode from FT Politics by Financial Times.

This episode is 31:19 long.

This episode was published on Feb 13, 2026.

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