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You know, I've been covering the Federal Reserve for the better part of 10 years and you would be hard pressed to find a single economist that would recount anything about modern central banking without mentioning Alan Greenspan.
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Hey, everybody. And welcome to here's the scoop from NBC News. I'm Yasim Basugin. We are remembering a titan of the financial world. Former Fed Chair Alan Greenspan passed away today at 100 years old. We're going to talk about how he became one of the most consequential economists in American history. Plus, round one of negotiations post memorandum between the US and Iran just wrapped. So how's it going so far? But first, British Prime Minister Keir Starmer is out announcing his resignation early Monday morning at 10 Downing Street.
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The question my party is asking now is whether I am best placed to lead us into the next general election. I have heard the answer of my parliamentary party to that question and I accept that answer with good grace.
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So Starmer's exit was not much of a surprise. He's been on the job for two years now and admits that he's been facing a lot of pressure from inside of his own Labor Party. In case you've not been keeping count, whoever becomes Prime Minister next is going to be the seventh prime minister in the last 10 years. So why now? Who could be next? And could this put the whole labor government at risk? For that, I'm going to bring in NBC News international correspondent Danielle Hammamjan, who is outside the UK Parliament. Hi, Danielle.
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Hi.
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So in 2024, Starmer and the Labour Party had a landslide victory that ended the Conservative Party's 14 year rule. Now here we are and Starmer has resigned. What happened?
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This is a headline that we unfortunately see quite often here in the uk. A Prime Ministerial resignation has now become so common it's almost tradition. I've been living here for 12 years and personally, it's all I've ever known. And it's not normal. Number 10 Downing street is the most, arguably the most famous door in the world. But it is, it has become this revolving door of Prime Ministers. David Cameron, Theresa May, Boris Johnson, Liz Truss, Rishi Sunak, Starmer, and now presumably Andy Burnham. And we'll get to him in a moment. Well, what happened is, well, there are a few things. First of all, many people will say to you he simply was not a good communicator. He was dull. I mean, he's got a legal background. He is a former human rights lawyer. He's not a professional politician. And for a While that, you know, for many that was an advantage, that was something that people, you know, enjoyed in him. But did he have that sort of political animal instinct that other politicians have? He did not. He also promised growth after 14 years of conservative leadership and many voters believe he did not deliver. Especially when it comes to public services, to cost of living. There are a bunch of policy u turns. There was also the scandal of Peter Mandelson, who he appointed as UK Ambassador to the us. Well, it turns out Peter Mandelson had some a very close relationship with Jeffrey Epstein. And the revelation that they were still in contact even after Jeffrey Epstein had been convicted, that is something that Starmer tried to justify by saying he did not know the extent of their relationship. But that for many was just. It was just too much foreign policy. I would not underestimate the support that he lost due to his stance on Gaza. People will argue that his rhetoric and his actions were simply not strong enough. It was one thing to condemn Israel, but he did nothing about it. Finally, it ultimately, he recognized the state of Palestine, but he had labor, what we call senators here in the House of Lords, saying that this amounted to genocide, something he never got on board. There were protesters here every week, pro Palestinian protesters. And they were, in the eyes of the law now, some of them considered terrorists when you've seen people in their 70s, 80s holding signs. And so that created a lot of resentment towards this man who was a human rights lawyer. And that all culminated in the local elections back in May. Now, local elections were sort of a litmus test for Starmer. And across the country it was a massive blow for the Labour party. More than 400 Labour councillors lost their jobs. And at that point it was sort of, you know, the countdown, I think, began now to when we would see the day that Prime Minister Starmer would resign. And finally it happened today. But of course, in between those local elections and today, a man by the name of Andy Burnham, he won a special election last week in a place in the UK where he beat the candidate from the Reform Party. Now, the Reform Party is a far right party who has called for the mass deportation of illegal and legal migrants. And it was a resounding victory. And once he won, it became clear that Starmer's time here was towards its end.
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So let's talk more about his potential successor. As you mentioned, Andy Burnham, he's the former mayor of Greater Manchester, super working class. You mentioned Labor Party stronghold. What more do we know about Burnham, how his leadership will be distinguished from Keir Starmer?
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Andy Burnham is the most popular labor politician there is now. He is charismatic. He is a good communicator in those, you know, things that Starmer is not. And he, you know, if you follow UK politics, you're familiar with the north south divide. Northern regions feel neglected, abandoned by this building behind me, by Westminster and the elite in London. And Burnham has sort of become the man who has stood up to Westminster. So he's seen as the outsider, even though he's not new to politics and he is not new to Westminster. He served under previous Labour prime ministers as Health Minister, as Culture Minister and in the Treasury. He's got political instincts. And, you know, as some have said, he, if he can't do it, no Labour politician can do it. And so he came to London today riding the train alongside everyday people. He jumped in a black cab. And so in terms of visuals and symbolism, it really conveyed sort of the, you know, the man of the people kind of picture that many people perceive him as.
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I want to talk about Brexit amidst all this, because you can't not talk about it, especially considering this is going to be the seventh prime minister in the last 10 years. Ten years ago is when the UK voted to leave the EU. That was Brexit.
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Tomorrow's the anniversary.
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How much of what we have seen take place in the UK over the last 10 years with a revolving door of prime ministers, essentially, how much does that have to do with Brexit? At least when it comes to the judgment of the citizens there, even some
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people point to Brexit, some people point to the financial crash of 2008. But since 2008, living standards have stagnated. Ask anybody here. I mean, maybe not here in central London next to Westminster, but your average person in the UK, are they better off than they were 10 years, 20 years ago? And they'll say no. I'll give you an example. I was at the gym this morning. We were joking about this. Yet another prime minister and somebody pointed out, and they were very upset, actually. The theatrics and the drama of Westminster, we are sick of this. We just want stability. But it's certainly, as you say, the seventh prime minister in the past 10 years certainly highlights the question, you know, is this place ungovernable?
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Danielle Hamamjan, thank you.
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Thank you, Yasmin.
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Coming up, Iran and the US talked face to face this weekend. But President Trump's renewed threats to attack Iran have angered the officials there. We're going to talk about what that means for the future of these negotiations coming up. Next. And also, while you're waiting for those ads to finish, we're going to why don't you think of someone special and then send them a link to. Here's the scoop we would love new listeners. I'll see you on the other side.
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and we are back with here's the scoop from NBC News. So talks between the US And Iran kicked off in Switzerland over the weekend, but there were some mixed signals coming from the leaders of both countries. In posts on Truth Social, President Trump threatened to attack Iran, and Iranian officials said they considered walking out of the negotiations as a result. But they didn't walk out. And instead, officials said they did make progress on some key issues, including nuclear inspections and sanctions relief. So where do the negotiations currently stand and could President Trump's threats derail them? For this, I want to bring in NBC News chief international correspondent Keir Simmons, who joins us from Switzerland. Hi, Keir.
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Hey there. How you doing?
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Good. So even though the talks happened this weekend and seem to be going in the right direction, there were some things that made it almost not happen. And as I mentioned, some of the threats that were coming from the president himself while his vice president was in the room with the Iranians. What headway has been made at this point, including the creation of this, quote, unquote, high level committee to oversee these ongoing talks, which are supposed to take about 60 days or so from the signing of this memorandum of understanding?
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Yeah. Well, I will say that people that I've spoke to through the past, I guess 48 hours were very calm and were not reflecting the kinds of noise that we heard and saw on social media, I guess you could say from the Iranian side and from the Trump administration side, specifically President Trump himself. And then you heard Vice President Vance this morning talking about that the Iranians have threatened to walk out on social media, but actually they carried on negotiating until the early hours of the morning. That being said, there were certainly tensions. I do know from a diplomat with knowledge of the talks that the Iranians refused to shake hands with the Americans on camera. And I think that's a, you know, side of the level of mistrust. And to your point, I think you can summarize it as that they're communicating and you can see it in multiple ways with the deconfliction plan that they have with Lebanon, with the plan to talk to each other over the Strait of Hormuz directly when there's an issue. And then as you say, that high level group overseeing everything, the working groups. So, you know, I guess you could argue just diplomacy can work, that just getting in a room and seeing each other, eyeballing and agreeing to carry on, communicate does have an impact. I mean, maybe this picturesque scene that they were looking out on during the talks had an impact too. Who can know? And of course, they were going back to the difficult politics of the, of of their home countries in the US and in Iran. So it can quickly wear off for
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those that are just listening and not watching. Of course, Kir is referring to the picturesque scenery behind him as well as what likely the negotiations are looking out on, which is an incredibly beautiful place, maybe that was easing some anxiety amidst all this negotiation. Talk to me about the mechanics of some of what they have decided. When you talk about this idea of how they are agreeing to continue talking like they're opening up lines. Right. This deconfliction process, for instance, in Lebanon, how is that going to work?
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Well, a good question. I'm not sure I necessarily have an answer. I certainly have a negative answer when it comes to Lebanon, of course, and you will have guessed it, which is that the two sides that are firing each other weren't here. So Hezbollah and the Israelis and they
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fought throughout the weekend, correct?
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Exactly. I mean, on Saturday we were reporting that the Israeli Defense Forces were accusing Hezbollah of firing 50 projectiles despite the ceasefire last week. And then the Israelis fired on Hezbollah in Lebanon, southern Lebanon. But the Lebanese authorities said that at that point, that double digit number of people had died, including children. So, yes, how do you deconflict a conflict when those who are actually directly involved in the conflict aren't deconflicting? And I do think that it's worth just saying that both sides talked about progress, but both sides emphasize different aspects of the progress. So, for example, the Iranians are very much talking about Lebanon, effectively suggesting that they've got an agreement that Israel will stop firing on Hezbollah. And that's not the way the Israelis see it. Clearly. And the Americans particularly. We heard J.D. vance this morning emphasizing that there will be nuclear inspections, that the Iranians had agreed to new inspections inside the country.
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When we talk about the Strait of Hormuz, I think there's some confusion as to whether or not it's actually open, because we mentioned there is this new line of communication that they're going to open with the Strait of Hormuz that came out of these talks. But we've also heard Iran repeatedly throughout the weekend saying they're shutting down the Strait of Hormuz. The last time they did that was because of an attack on Lebanon. That was, I believe, on Saturday. So is it open right now? And is this line of communication active as we speak?
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Can I just give you a politician's answer and say yes or no?
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Yes. I would expect nothing else.
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Is it open? I mean, what. So it's not open the way it was open? And I suppose that really points to a part of this, which is that some of the things that the Americans have emerged, J.D. vance emerged and sort of celebrated his successes, our successes, solving problems that came about because of the war. Another aspect of this, though, I do think that's worth just kind of touching on, is that when we, when I've been mentioning President Obama's nuclear deal, what's called the jcpoa, that took two years to negotiate, and that was just nuclear, you know, when you read that document, it's about nuclear. Now, just the minimum random of understanding is about nuclear, and it's about shipping and it's about a whole bunch of things. And that means it's more complex.
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But arguably, this strait was not a problem before the war.
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Right.
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That's why it needs to be included in this memorandum of understanding.
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That's exactly right. We live in different times. But my point is to say that there are ways in which what is being proposed by the Trump administration does have the potential to be, if you like, better than the Obama deal. But equally, it's a lot more complicated. So it's harder to. But, you know, I think that the timeline is a crucial piece. And I think there are two crucial dates in that question and that's two elections and that's the midterm elections there in the US and the elections in Israel, both of which are likely to be happening around about the same time. And in my mind, I think there is an interesting piece of this which is to think to yourself, what's life going to be like before those elections? What will the Iran situation be like after those elections? The Trump administration are framing this as the potential for a regional transformation, world changing, you know, kind of realignment. Is that what we're going to get or are we going to see that we revert back to the conflict at some point when the politics shifts?
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Not sure anybody really knows the answer to that question. Dear Simmons, thank you.
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Yes, pleasure.
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All right. We're going to take a very quick break and when we are back, we're going to talk about the legacy of economist Alan Greenspan, who led the Federal Reserve under four different administrations. That's up next.
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And we are back with here's the scoop from NBC News. So we are going to take a moment today to remember former Federal Reserve Chair Alan Greenspan, the influential economist who died on Monday at 100 years of age. Greenspan spent five consecutive terms, almost two decades, as Fed chair. He served under four presidents of both parties. He helped define American capitalism after the Cold War, and he oversaw one of the longest economic expansions in American history. But he was also in the driver's seat ahead of the 2008 financial crisis. And critics say some of his policy positions, like advocating for fewer regulations on the financial sector, were in fact a contributing factor. So I wanted to take a look at Greenspan's legacy with NBC News business and data correspondent Brian Chung. Hey, Brian.
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Hey.
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Yes, I mentioned GreenSpan spent almost two decades as the head of the Fed. What was his legacy?
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You know, I've been covering the Federal Reserve for the better part of 10 years, and you would be hard pressed to find a single economist that would recount anything about modern central banking without mentioning Alan Greenspan. I mean, it cannot be understated how significant it is that he went through four presidents, 18 years at the Fed, 1987 to 2006. You imagine, Yaz, all the changes that this US economy went through even outside of the Fed. You think about, as you mentioned, the ending of the Cold War. You think about 9, 11, you think about several wars. You think about the advent of the Internet. And that makes it more remarkable that it was the same person helming the central bank, steering interest rates, steering monetary policy. And I think that he's well revered.
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Are we seeing any of Alan Greenspan's economic policy today?
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Alan Greenspan engineered what they called the soft landing. There was a period in 1994, 1995, where inflation was nudging up and the Fed was like, hey, before this becomes an issue, let's raise interest rates. And it was very controversial. People were saying, you're stamping down on economic activity when the data hasn't really even shown it's out of control yet. But that had the ability and allowed the Fed to steer clear of a recession and continue that economic expansion. So you hear soft landing mentioned all the time.
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Time.
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And it was a playbook that Jay Powell tried to follow after Covid. Didn't work to the same degree. The dynamics were different, but it's just part of his legacy that he left at the central bank.
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I want to talk about the personal stuff, but I do want to cover more of what I mentioned as I came to you, which is some of the blame that he gets for the 2007 and 2008 financial crisis. And he has, in some respects, Accepted some of that blame that came through in some congressional testimony that I want to take a listen to.
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I made a mistake in presuming that the self interest of organizations, specifically banks and others, was such as that they were best capable of protecting their own shareholders and the equity in the firms.
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Help us understand what Greenspan was actually saying there and how big of an error it was that he made you
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think about the subprime mortgage bubble.
B
Yeah.
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And when you think about what potentially led to that low interest rates and the kind of willy nilly standards by which banks were underwriting these mortgages and then packaging them up into these really complicated. Yeah, well, I mean, that's exactly it because the Federal Reserve, we talk all the time about interest rates and is it going to go up, is it going to go down? But another very important function of the Fed that's super boring but very significant is financial regulation. They are the cop on Wall street that's supposed to stop bank from doing bad things like taking bad mortgages, packaging them into something else and then saying that it's golden. And when you talk about Alan Greenspan and his tenure at the Fed, I think even more so than the argument that interest rates were so low and that kind of partially enabled these lenders to, you know, give everyone a home, even if they didn't have the, you know, the credit to do so, was the fact that the Fed was essentially asleep at the wheel in not having the proper safeguards to make sure that these banks were not, you know, engaging in this, in this activity that led to the financial crisis.
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We've covered the economics of it all. There is the man himself, our colleague, our friend. NBC News chief Washington correspondent Andrea Mitchell was married to alan Greenspan for 29 years. She issued a statement this morning in which she talked about a little bit about his legacy, a little bit about his failings and his mistakes that we just covered, but then also spoke about him as a person. She said, and I quote, he has a irrational exuberance for baseball, the Washington commander's football team, tennis, golf and music. She said being his life partner was the joy of her life. How else will Alan Greenspan be remembered as just a man beyond the economics of it all?
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Yeah. And I had the chance to meet Alan Greenspan only once. Very gentle man and clearly very intelligent. And the legacy that he brought to the Fed, in addition to everything that we just talked about, he was also a verbose person. He spoke in long winded sentences and coined what we now call Fed speak, which is where you kind of go on these long, meandering sentences and kind of obscure the message a little bit so that markets don't read into one single word too much because they don't even know what you're talking about. He will be remembered for some of the congressional testimony. But I mean, to your point, he was also a very colorful person. In addition to all of the sports fandom, he was an avid musician. And at one point he even thought about going into music as opposed to becoming the most powerful economist in the world. And again, that was the dimension of Alan Greenspan that I think also cements his legacy as well.
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Ryan Chung, thank you.
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Thanks.
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All right. That is gonna do it for us at here's the scoop from NBC News. I'm Yazan Vesugin. We'll be back tomorrow with whatever the day may bring. And if you like what you heard, subscribe wherever you get your podcasts. And you can also subscribe to our daily newsletter, the Inside Scoop. It is a deeper dive on the main stories of the day that comes out every weeknight straight to your inbox. You can sign up for the Inside Scoop as part of a paid subscription@nbcnews.com we'll see you tomorrow.
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Episode Title: Why British PM Keir Starmer Resigned; Trump Ramps Up Threats on Iran
Date: June 22, 2026
Host: Yasmin Vossoughian
This episode dives into two top international stories:
It closes with a look back at the legacy of former Federal Reserve Chair Alan Greenspan, who passed away at the age of 100.
[00:13–08:14]
[09:43–16:57]
[18:43–24:33]
This episode brings in-depth analysis and reporting from NBC’s team on the political shockwaves from the UK’s latest prime ministerial change, the precarious diplomatic balancing act between the US and Iran under renewed threats from President Trump, and a reflection on the complicated, towering legacy of Alan Greenspan. It expertly weaves together global politics, economic history, and the human stories behind the headlines.