00:00Now to a weekend of resignations amid the fallout from the latest release 10 days ago now,
00:05of course, the release of the Epstein files. In the UK, the Chief of Staff of Britain's Prime
00:10Minister Keir Starmer has resigned here in France. Jack Lang, the former Culture Minister
00:15and head of the World Arab Institute, has tendered his resignation. This as Jeffrey Epstein jailed
00:20girlfriend Ghislaine Maxwell is due to face questioning today. We're going to look at all
00:25the latest. I'm with our International Affairs Editor, Philip Tell, who's joining me here on
00:29set. Philip, we're going to start here with Ghislaine Maxwell, due to be auditioned later
00:32by a committee from Congress in Washington. I mean, are we expecting her to reveal anything
00:36new? No, unfortunately not, Stuart. And this is for several reasons. She's going to invoke
00:41her Fifth Amendment privilege against self-incrimination and decline to answer all substantive questions.
00:48That is what we're being told. These are a few facts and figures about Ghislaine Maxwell.
00:53She's guilty of sex trafficking, conspiracy and criminal sexual activity and be given a
00:5820-year jail sentence. There was a push, there has been a push for her to be given legal immunity
01:07to testify, but this has been refused by lawmakers in the US. One of the representatives on the board
01:15of the House Committee on the Overside of Government Reform, who is a Democrat called Roe Canna, has
01:21published a list of questions that he would like to ask Ghislaine Maxwell, even though she's expected
01:27not to reply to any of them, saying that there were four co-conspirators, 25 others who were
01:33allegedly involved in sexual abuse of minors. Why were they not indicted and why have we not been
01:40told more about who they are? Of course, we're not expecting any answers from Ghislaine Maxwell.
01:45She's only expected to read out a prepared statement before the interrogation starts, but then will
01:51remain silent during the rest of it while she's asked questions.
01:54OK, we'll follow that for you, of course, here on France 24 as well. Let's talk about the French
01:57angle now, Philip. The resignation on Saturday, this was, of the head of the World Arab Institute.
02:03This is Jack Lang, followed an investigation into money laundering. Remind us then what he's
02:08accused of.
02:09OK, well, Jack Lang is a very well-known political figure here in France. He was a culture minister
02:14under François Métain. He was then later on an education minister. He's been the head of the
02:18Arab World Institute for the last 13 years. He's now 86 years old. He said that he met
02:24Jeffrey Epstein through Woody Allen back in 2010 or 2011. This was after Jeffrey Epstein
02:30had been to jail on offences, sexual offences against a minor. Now, Jack Long is accused
02:38of, or there's an investigation going on into a suspected money laundering because he received
02:43two amounts of money, €50,000 and €30,000, which were given to him by Jeffrey Epstein for
02:50the making of two films, one about Jack Long's period with François Métain, the glory of
02:57Jack Long, if you like, and then another one about Jack Long's deceased daughter. None of
03:02those films, as far as we know, have been shown to the public, although we know that the one
03:06about Jack Long's career has been made. And on top of this is another scandal concerning
03:13his daughter, who's called Caroline Lang, who is now 64. She was the former head of the
03:18independent production union in France. She's resigned from that post. She created an overseas
03:25offshore company in 2016 with Jeffrey Epstein as a co-shareholder, which is reported to have
03:33$1.4 million in its account, which was created to buy artwork from up-and-coming artists and
03:39then wait for them to become famous and then sell it off and make money, which is something
03:43that Jeffrey Epstein was interested in. But the money for the films was reportedly deposited
03:48in that account. So that's why the French authorities think that Jack Long, who said it had nothing
03:52to do with that overseas account, may have actually been involved in it. And the other embarrassing
03:57thing for Caroline Lang is that three days before Jeffrey Epstein committed suicide, he wrote
04:03to will leaving Caroline Lang $5 million if he were to die before she did. So there is all this
04:10pressure on Jack Long. He's now resigned as head of the Arab World Institute. He said, I have nothing
04:14to do with any of his sexual deviancy. We were just close friends. He was charming, agreeable, generous,
04:21cultivated. But that doesn't wash very well with the victims of Jeffrey Epstein or the position of
04:25someone who was holding this job as head of the Arab World Institute. That's why there was growing
04:30pressure within France for him to resign from that, even coming from the presidential office
04:34of François Mitterrand, something now that Jack Long has done. But it hasn't stopped the investigation
04:39into exactly what his close contact was with Jeffrey Epstein and why he didn't know anything about
04:45Jeffrey Epstein's previous conviction for being a sexual predator and just how much of a close
04:55relationship the two men had on exchanging money and gifts and ideas over that 15-year period.
05:01Just finally, Philippe, you're going to cross the channel for us to talk about the latest
05:04difficulties in the UK. This is Prime Minister Keir Starmer, of course, being rocked up by connections
05:08between Epstein and the former UK ambassador to Washington, Peter Mandelson. The resignation
05:13yesterday of his chief of staff, Morgan McSweeney.
05:16Well, there's a big question, I think, on everybody's lips this morning, and that is,
05:20has the resignation of Morgan McSweeney, who was really the architect of Keir Starmer's election
05:24win back in 2024. Remember, the Labour Party got absolutely trampled in the elections in 2019,
05:31opposite Boris Johnson and the Conservatives. It was thanks to Morgan McSweeney that the party
05:37swung more to the centre and Keir Starmer won this enormous victory back in 2024. That's all
05:43disappeared now. He's only sort of 16 to 18 percent of positive opinion poll ratings in the UK,
05:48which looked probably worse as a result of the scandal over Peter Mandelson, his links to
05:54Jeffrey Epstein, why he was nominated as ambassador to the United States. So I think the question is,
06:00will the resignation of Morgan McSweeney protect Keir Starmer because he was the architect of
06:06the win? He was also a friend of Peter Mandelson's. It was Morgan McSweeney who proposed Peter
06:12Mandelson to the job as ambassador to the United States. Will that protect Keir Starmer,
06:17will it leave Keir Starmer more vulnerable now and more open to attacks from within the Labour
06:22Party where there are many people who are dissatisfied, angry and upset by the way this
06:27has happened? And the question is, why was the vetting process not sufficiently well done
06:33to make sure that Lord Mandelson never got the job of ambassador to the United States?
06:39It was Keir Starmer who named him. There was some problem down the line that should have been seen,
06:45should have been worked out. He should never have got the job he did. So the person who really is in
06:49the firing line is Keir Starmer. Now, there are a couple of things that he has in his favour. The
06:54first one is that he seems pretty much as though he may stay in place for the moment, at least until
07:01the upcoming local elections in the UK in a couple of months' time. We'll see how Labour does there.
07:08That might end Keir Starmer's reign as Prime Minister. But as far as the Labour Party goes,
07:15there's no one really vying for his job right now. There are a few candidates like Angela Rayner,
07:20for example, who would like to take over. But he's not on direct threat from a push within the Labour
07:26Party. What he could face is a vote of confidence or no confidence in the House of Commons, which could
07:32bring down the government. But we're not there yet. So for the moment, Keir Starmer has survived.
07:37But I think the question on everybody's lips today is it's not when he's going to go or if he's going
07:43to do, but how much longer can he stay in number 10 before he actually...
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