00:00Kirstarmer's leadership is back in crisis over Peter Mandelson, piling more pressure
00:04on UK bonds battered by war in the Middle East.
00:07The Mandelson scandal roared back to life after it emerged that the Foreign Office granted
00:10him security clearance to become the UK ambassador in Washington, despite objections from vetting
00:15officials.
00:16The Prime Minister fired the top civil servant in the Foreign Office and defended what he
00:20knew and when.
00:22No minister was told that he'd failed security vetting.
00:25Number 10 wasn't told that he'd failed security vetting.
00:28That is completely unacceptable.
00:31But he now faces questions about whether he misled Parliament after insisting to MPs that
00:36due process was followed.
00:38The opposition are already stepping up calls for Starmer to resign.
00:41Bets on Starmer's stepping down spiked overnight on Polly Markets, but the real market test
00:46is in UK government bonds.
00:48They've proved sensitive to stories which could be damaging to the current government, over
00:51fears that any replacement could be less committed to fiscal restraint.
00:55The UK bond market's also been more turbulent than peers in Europe and the US during the
00:59Middle East war.
01:00So far, moves in guilt have been relatively restrained, but the next steps likely hinge
01:04on Starmer's statement to Parliament on Monday.
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