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- [00:00]
Adam Fleming
This BBC podcast is supported by ads outside the uk.
- [00:06]
Tristan Redman
What's actually happening inside Iran? I'm Tristan Redman, host of the Global Story podcast from the BBC. Iranians have been under a near total Internet blackout for several months. Few Western journalists have been permitted to operate in the country. But in recent weeks, the BBC's chief international correspondent, Lyse Doucet, has been reporting on the ground in Tehran. For more, listen to the global story on BBC.com or wherever you get your podcasts.
- [00:38]
Adam Fleming
Hello. The King and Queen are in midair as we're recording this episode of Newscast, but we'll be touching down in Washington probably by the time you are listening to it. And we wanted to look at this state visit to the USA from all the different angles, whether it's British politics, whether it's. Whether it's royal diplomacy or whether it's American politics. So throughout this episode of Newscast, we will be joined by people from both sides of the Atlantic looking at the state visit from all those different angles. And because people are in all sorts of places and there's all sorts of time difference issues, I'm not exactly sure who will pop up when. But by the end of the episode, you'll be fully covered. So that's a little hint of what's coming up in this episode of Newscast, Newscast, Newscast.
- [01:21]
Sean Coughlan
From the BBC, humanity's next great voyage begins. We are in the midst of a rupture.
- [01:26]
Adam Fleming
Nostalgia will will not bring back the old order.
- [01:29]
Gary O'Donoghue
Six, seven. Yeah, it's supposed to be me as a doctor.
- [01:33]
Adam Fleming
Daddy has. Has also a special quotation.
- [01:35]
Tristan Redman
Ooh la la.
- [01:36]
Sean Coughlan
Thinking about it like a panto helped.
- [01:38]
Joe Pike
Do we play music now or what do we do?
- [01:40]
Adam Fleming
Hello, it's Adam in the newscast studio.
- [01:42]
Joe Pike
It's Joe pike in Westminster.
- [01:44]
Adam Fleming
Do you know what? I feel a bit lonely sat here on my own without an audience of 200 newscasters sat around the place watching. But let's increase the number of people here because we're also joined from the US by the BBC's royal correspondent, Sean Coughlan. Hello, Sean.
- [01:56]
Gary O'Donoghue
Hello.
- [01:57]
Sean Coughlan
Lovely. Lovely to hear from you.
- [01:59]
Adam Fleming
So we're recording this bit of this episode at 6:30 on Monday evening. What time is it where you are, Sean?
- [02:04]
Sean Coughlan
It is now coming up to half past one here.
- [02:08]
Adam Fleming
And when do we expect the King and Queen to actually land on American soil?
- [02:13]
Sean Coughlan
Well, in a couple of hours they'll be descending from a blue sky and landing into a political storm. So we're looking out for them and we're looking forward to their arrival.
- [02:24]
Adam Fleming
And Sean, the security story that's unfolded around the president over the weekend. Has that interacted or impacted on the royal story that we're about to start covering?
- [02:34]
Sean Coughlan
Well, I think it was already going to be a pretty complicated trip with all the political backdrop to it. And this adds another layer of difficulty and possibly raising the stakes even higher. And I imagine what would have been intense security will now be raised to whatever, whatever a notch higher. And that, you know, the bubble that they, they, they will operate inside, the security bubble will be made of some sort of reinforced titanium or something to keep everybody out. And the public might not get to see very much, but hopefully we'll be able to get inside, inside that bubble and see things for you.
- [03:11]
Adam Fleming
And have any of the officials who've been organizing the trip kind of engaged with questions about security, like, have you been able to ask them, oh, have you changed things as a, as a product of what happened on Saturday?
- [03:23]
Sean Coughlan
Well, I think they've acknowledged that there will be some slight changes, but I think they probably won't be for the big set piece occasions in Washington, the kind of White House Capitol building events which are going to be pretty secure anyway. I think, I think it's possibly more of the, the softer, more human, friendlier photo opportunities where the King is very good at meeting crowds and meeting people. I suspect if there are changes, it might be in those more open moments rather than the closed political events.
- [03:57]
Adam Fleming
And Joe talking about the view from Downing Street. Keir Starmer spoke to President Trump on Sunday, kind of lunchtime, didn't he?
- [04:04]
Joe Pike
Yes, Sunday afternoon.
- [04:06]
Adam Fleming
And do we know what they discussed?
- [04:08]
Joe Pike
We don't know whether they discussed the Falkland Islands, which is one key challenge for the Foreign Office. After that, there's reports about a leaked Pentagon email questioning whether the US Position, which had been neutral on those islands near Argentina, might change. Certainly, I suppose anxiety has for many months been the sort of normal mode for number 10 and some in the Foreign Office on Donald Trump. But they seem, when I've had conversations with people in government, they're trying to be optimistic. And they keep on talking about trade. Trade is the sort of number one priority. Economic cooperation could potentially help the UK Economy. That's the key focus. And that's why Yvette Cooper is accompanying the King. They say she is his principal foreign policy advisor for this trip, which I think is potentially slightly patronizing. This is a man who first met Eisenhower when he was 10. He was in Washington, I think, for the first time. Sure may know better than me. In his 20s, I think maybe during the Nixon administration. This is a guy who's met a whole lot of US presidents and is a pretty experienced diplomat himself, even though the backdrop, of course, is of a real fracturing of UK US relations, or certainly Trump Starmer relations.
- [05:30]
Adam Fleming
It's interesting, Joe, because you're talking as if Downing street and the government actually want to get something out of this trip politically, so that it's a benefit, because I feel that all the discussion around this trip in the last few days, in the last few weeks, it's become very sort of defensive and let's cross our fingers and hope it doesn't go wrong, but actually you're talking to people who think they can actually get something out of it and it can go well and it can go right.
- [05:51]
Joe Pike
Yeah. I mean, they talk about trade as the priority. Cultural links, I think, is number three on the list. And number two is intelligence and security, which is always something that is sort of at the heart, quite sort of deeply entwined in that relationship. Yeah, I suppose they're trying to be positive. Of course, it's difficult. Of course, the President is unpredictable, but as we know, he seems wowed by the UK royal family to talks about his meeting with the late Queen as being one of the highlights of his life. And therefore it's possible this is a significant moment he looks back on positively in weeks and months to come. No sign that that would necessarily change his sort of geopolitical policies, but who knows? You've got to try, surely.
- [06:38]
Adam Fleming
No, we don't do one upmanship on newscast. But, Sean, would you like to kind of trump Joe's King Charles Washington trivia?
- [06:48]
Sean Coughlan
Well, I think. I think Joe put that very nicely in terms of trivia. I. I think if you want to throw in a little bit of trivia today, when we see Queen Camilla, she's going to be wearing a brooch that has a little flag of Britain, Britain's flag and the US flag intertwined. And apparently that was given to the late Queen Elizabeth II by the Mayor of New York in 1957. And the purpose of this long winded introduction is that that was another state visit against a very tricky moment in UK and US relations. The Suez War had seen a fracturing of that relationship in 1956 and into that after that crisis, the Queen was dispatched to America to make friends again over another Middle Eastern war. And so. So the brooch returns for another go at making friends and showing that the Transit Atlantic alliance has a sort of a living future and that any bumps in the road at the moment can be temporary and that we can all make friends again. And I think that the, you know, as Joe was saying, that there's a strange sort of like, Donald Trump seems to have like a split screen vision of Britain where he loves the monarchy, he loves being around the monarchy. That really seems to do things for him. And then he hates parts of our political system and our political representatives. And I suppose the ambition from the British diplomatic side is to somehow bring those two sides together, like warm up a little bit of the political world. But some of the heat he has, sort of the warmth he feels for the monarchy. And I think it's that sort of bridge that will be built possibly by the King over the next couple of days. He has to kind of keep Trump sweet, butter him up, flatter him and all those things, but at the same time, get over those big points on don't leave NATO, don't run away from Ukraine, don't run away from open trade. And so he's kind of got to deliver quite some serious punches on behalf of the Foreign Office, but at the same time in a very sort of velvet, ermine, very monarchical glove that will make Trump feel tickled and loved rather than threatened.
- [09:01]
Adam Fleming
And I should say we're hoping to speak to Gary o' Donoghue to do some of the American politics and other American events that have been happening today. But I'm just thinking, Sean, about that brooch. That brooch seems to me a bit of a kind of like double edged broach, if you could have such a thing was. Okay, it's an example of US UK relations surviving a big disagreement about a war in the Middle East. But it's also a symbol of, well, something that's considered a complete disaster for Britain standing in the world, which is when, when Britain and France and Israel cooked up this secret plan to seize the Suez Canal in Egypt, which people say was actually sort of one of the lowest points for Britain in its recent history. So, I mean, it is okay, it's been used as a symbol of, of, oh, yeah, we can get on. But it's also a symbol of things going very badly wrong because, of course, America was completely opposed to that whole Suez thing.
- [09:51]
Sean Coughlan
Well, that's very true. And, you know, to stretch the metaphor approach can give you a nasty old prick in the finger too, if you put it on the wrong way. And I think that there is a kind of, I mean, I think that, you know, the famed royal sources have been very open when they say that this is not just high opportunity for the UK, but also high risk And I think they're quite serious about that and they're aware that this could not, is, this isn't bound to go well. Lots of state visits are quite structured around a lot of feel good photos and backslapping and everyone has a bit of a love in about cultural connections and everything. But this isn't quite like that. It really is, there is authentic jeopardy in this, I think. And we don't quite know how President Trump will respond or whether he will, you know, whether he will play ball really. We don't, we don't know. And there are a lot of subplots whirring away in the background and said the security fears. There are people who are here on Saturday protesting about the King and Queen not meeting Jeffrey Epstein's survivors. There's a whole lot of other stuff going on. So I think this is, this is unusually fraught and difficult moment in both UK and US relations but also in terms of attempts by the King to go and help sort things out.
- [11:08]
Adam Fleming
And Sean, do you want to give us a brief rundown of what the agenda for the next few days actually is, what the set piece events are?
- [11:15]
Sean Coughlan
Well, today it's a bit of, bit of garden partying, but even that actually is interesting. It has a symbolic subtext because people are going to get beef sandwiches and the beef in the sandwiches is going to be the first tariff free beef imported into the US after careful negotiations. So that'll be, they are symbolic sandwiches even at the garden party. The big, the big, the big.
- [11:38]
Adam Fleming
Well, I was just going to say I was watching an Instagram video by the chief chef at the UK embassy in Washington D.C. who is preparing 3,000 and sandwiches, a quarter of which will be those beef ones. And he said oh yeah, you wouldn't normally have a beef and horseradish sandwich as part of a classic quintessential English afternoon tea. But because of trade policy we're, we're putting the beef sandwich in the, in there.
- [12:00]
Sean Coughlan
And he can say yeah, and, and they can say where's the beef?
- [12:03]
Adam Fleming
Here it is.
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Sean Coughlan
They, they've, and it tastes that wonderful tariff free flavor.
- [12:08]
Adam Fleming
Yes, the tariffs are really affecting the flavor. Anyway, Sean, I, I, I interrupted carry on with the timeline.
- [12:13]
Sean Coughlan
Then it's going to tomorrow is that, that's the big kind of big ticket event. So you've got, there'll be a big parade and ceremonial thing around the White House introducing the hall event and follow that there'll be a big, the big speech in Congress where King Charles will address both houses of Congress and then Afterwards, there'll be the State dinner, where it will be the first chance really to hear Donald Trump, because he will then give his own reply to the King's speech. I'll be interested what comes back. Also, I'm looking out particularly for a beehive because apparently the White House lawn now plays host to a beehive which has been rebuilt in the shape of the White House. So it's like a miniature little bee, bee palace. And I think that's meant to be a bit of sort of honeycoated diplomacy for King Charles is a very enthusiastic beekeeper. So these are the little details I think we'll be looking out for and hoping to see them in all their. All their grandeur and all their folly. And then there's a bit of a. There's a trip to New York on Wednesday, which is quite a serious one. There's. They're going to the 911 memorial and then they're going to the countryside on Thursday to Virginia for a bit of countryside, fresh air and American natural beauty.
- [13:34]
Gary O'Donoghue
Right.
- [13:35]
Adam Fleming
I'm told Gary o' Donoghue is sitting in the studio getting ready to get plugged in. So we will let him get plugged in, but let's plug ourselves back into Westminster because, Joe, I mean, there's a huge day tomorrow in Westminster in terms of the Peter Mandelson vetting story. So a sort of Washington ish link to tomorrow. Where. Where should we start? Should we start with the. The Foreign Affairs Select Committee, which is where all the action was last week, but it's going to be again this week?
- [14:00]
Joe Pike
Yes. Two people appearing before that who are arguably both sides of the Was, you know, was pressure put on the Foreign office argument. Morgan McSweeney, who was the Prime Minister's a Chief of Staff, will be appearing. Somebody who is seen as close to Lord Mandelson or was close to Lord Mandelston and was very supportive of making him U.S. ambassador. He will appear and earlier in the morning Philip Barton will appear. He was the top civil servant in the Foreign Office at the time. Was he somebody who experienced pressure? I'm sure Emily Thornbury and her committee members will be interested. Philip Barton was the predecessor to Ollie Robbins. That could be potentially a dramatic couple of hours as those two appear and it potentially could change the minds on all of this of some Labour MPs. Why do they matter? Well, because later tomorrow there's going to be a debate and then a vote over whether to refer some of this sort of wider matter to Parliament's Privileges Committee. That's the committee that did play a part in Boris Johnson's demise. And what the conserv have argued is that Zakir Starmer has misled the House of Commons repeatedly, something he denies that that needs to be investigated by this committee over two things. One, the Prime Minister claiming that due process was followed on the Manlson appointment. But also the Foreign Office was not put under pressure. We should say that Reform UK looked likely to back the Tories and the Lib Dems want Labour and Peace to have a free vote on it. So there will be a vote tomorrow afternoon or evening of whether to refer this to the Privileges Committee. And yet, Adam, it's another example of the Mandelson saga and that fateful decision to appoint him and indeed to sack Ollie Robbins more recently, that being something that Keir Starmer cannot escape.
- [15:57]
Adam Fleming
And so, basically, just in terms of the chronology of today, this all got rolling just after lunch when the House of Commons sitting started and Lindsay Hoyle, the Speaker, said, yes, I'm going to let this debate and go ahead on Wednesday. I am not going to stand in the way of the House debating whether Keir Starmer should be referred to the Privileges Committee for them to investigate.
- [16:19]
Joe Pike
Exactly. And also the bar is normally reasonably low for this and ultimately Labour have a big majority in the House of Commons. Should this be difficult for Keir Starmer to win? Well, you'd think not. But soon after that announcement from the speaker, we have in Westminster really sensed a sort of anxiety on behalf of number 10. We had Keir Starmer suddenly being announced as appearing before the the Parliamentary Labour Party, the PLP, a big meeting of MPs to talk to them. We had this unexpected intervention from Gordon Brown backing in words as opposed to on camera, the Prime Minister. I've also spoken to a lot of MPs who say they have had phone calls from either Cabinet ministers or senior MPs trying to get them on side. That does point, I think, to number 10, who are worried about how this vote could do tomorrow and certainly who don't want to be complacent and want to ensure that as many MPs are in the Chamber tomorrow to vote for them and to stop this going to a stage which, as Boris Johnson found, could be pretty damaging.
- [17:22]
Adam Fleming
Yeah, I can't work out if wheeling out the Cabinet and big figures like Gordon Brown is a show of strength or a show of intensely worriedness.
- [17:30]
Joe Pike
That's such a good point, Adam. I agree entirely because there is this view from some, including one MP who's just texting me in the last few minutes, this is unnecessary. And that really, it could look like the Prime Minister is panicking. That is a danger. And it's maybe not the message you want to get across to Labour MPs. Certainly this morning we had in the news bulletins on the BBC this intervention from Alan Johnson and David Blunkett criticising the Tories. Move now. Yes, those are two respected former Cabinet ministers who might be able to persuade Labour MPs, but without their intervention, arguably the story of the Privileges Committee wouldn't have been something you heard or saw waking up this morning. And therefore there is argument as to whether by throwing the kitchen sink at all of this, the government are being not complacent and really trying hard to ensure they win this and not regretting it in the future, or whether they look like they're really worried. And that's not something that you really want your leader and his team to look like. Like.
- [18:32]
Adam Fleming
And I suppose maybe some labor mps will be thinking, okay, I support the Prime Minister. I don't think he misled Parliament. So I'm. I kind of really need to vote against this motion. But equally, I don't want to look like I'm against transparency. And also I don't want, when people Google Keir Starmer Mandelson appointment, my name to then appear because I voted in this debate.
- [18:57]
Joe Pike
That's true. And there are certainly Labour MPs who are already vocally anti Starmer, who are saying, well, the Prime Minister should just let this go through and if he's not misled the House, he can defend himself. But there are others that do think even comparing this to Boris Johnson is nonsense, because, of course, there was a police investigation underway at that point, and ultimately the Privileges Committee at that time concluded that he had deliberately misled the House. If he had been an MP by the time the Privileges Committee had finally reported, they would have suspended him from the House for, I think, almost three months. And they also decided not to give him a Westminster pass as a former mp. So the situation, many argue, is completely different. And the number 10 line, important to get this in too, Adam, is that it's a political stunt by the Conservatives intentionally timed just before the May elections.
- [19:56]
Adam Fleming
Right, Joe, I'm going to let you go so you can prepare for the approximately 23 hours of coverage of this story we will have tomorrow. So thank you very much.
- [20:03]
Joe Pike
Thanks, Adam.
- [20:04]
Adam Fleming
And in Joe's place is Gary o', Donoghue, who's in Washington. Hi, Gary.
- [20:07]
Gary O'Donoghue
Hello, Adam. How are you?
- [20:08]
Adam Fleming
Has your Heart stopped pounding after being at the White House Correspondents Dinner on Saturday.
- [20:13]
Gary O'Donoghue
Well, it's obviously pounding again, not the prospect of talking to you, isn't it?
- [20:17]
Adam Fleming
Hopefully in a positive way rather than a scared way. Gary, just on a human level, I mean, what has it been like the last couple of days, witnessing something like that and then sort of living with it?
- [20:28]
Gary O'Donoghue
I mean, it's. People react in very different ways. I kind of. I always feel a bit depressed. I mean, I felt depressed after Butler. I feel depressed after this. And I don't, you know, I don't much like kind of going over it as a person, if you know what I mean. I mean, you kind of. In the 24 hours after it, we were in complete, you know, reporter mode. And indeed, immediately after it happened, I was, you know, when I was under the table, I was trying to get through to our news desk, which is surprisingly hard, even given that we're a broadcasting organization, but trying to get through to our news desk to get on air. So you go into that kind of mode because you don't really want to give yourself the time and space to think about how bloomin awful and how depressing it is and this country tearing itself apart politically. But, yeah, so I don't experience the kind of euphoria that some people feel after being present at these sorts of things. And some people are kind of euphoric about it, especially if they survive, obviously. Yeah.
- [21:30]
Adam Fleming
I hope you didn't mind me asking,
- [21:32]
Gary O'Donoghue
but I thought we just want to
- [21:33]
Adam Fleming
sort of probe that a little bit. And then in terms of what's been happening in the aftermath. So Caroline Levitt, the White House press secretary, has just been doing a briefing for reporters, and she basically pinned the blame for this on the people that are very vocal about Donald Trump and their criticism of him and tossing around words like fascist all the time. She went really on the offensive against Donald Trump's critics.
- [21:58]
Joe Pike
This hateful and constant and violent rhetoric
- [22:00]
Sean Coughlan
directed at President Trump day after day after day for 11 years has helped
- [22:07]
Joe Pike
legitimize this violence and bring us to this dark moment.
- [22:11]
Gary O'Donoghue
Yeah, and we saw a bit of this actually after Butler as well. People sort of blame trying to turn this around into a kind of Republican Democrat thing. I mean, interestingly, on the, on the night, on Saturday night, when the president went back to the White House, he said, you know, it's time to resolve our differences. Well, that's not really what the press secretary has done today. In fact, the press secretary is meant to be on maternity leave. She told us on Friday, you know, this is it. I'm done. But now she's back saying it's too important not to address this and does seem to be kind of politicizing it in that way, which I think is a pity. I think it's a real pity because, you know, there are people on all wings of politics in this country who, who are prepared to do crazy things. And given the confluence of those crazy things and the polarization and the fact you can readily lay your hands on high caliber weapons, you know, has turned into a sort of a real kind of horrendous cocktail that means political violence in this country is becoming normalized again.
- [23:15]
Adam Fleming
And also, it's just, it's just in so many different layers in the culture. So, for example, Melania Trump has been calling out a clip that's gone viral today of Jimmy Kimmel, the talk show host, making a joke about her being a potential widow a couple of days ago.
- [23:30]
Gary O'Donoghue
Yes, I mean, this is the sort of late night, you know, comedian type beat where, you know, pretty much all bets are off and they make jokes about all sorts of things. And this was him talking before actually the White House dinner. But in the, in the light of it, they've kind of gone after him, as they have done a number of those late night people, as opposed to just ignoring it, really, which is probably what you should do because it's late night comedy. I mean, kind of, who cares? But she's really, she's really amplified that. It's interesting if you look at the footage from Saturday night, I mean, it clearly had an impact on her because you can see how shocked and sort of horrified she was before they were dragged under the table and dragged off the stage. So it's obviously had a bit of an impact on her, hasn't it?
- [24:29]
Adam Fleming
And, Gary, is this being seen as a security failure? Because there's been so much talk about whether the security was too light touch and not high touch enough. Where's that conversation got to do?
- [24:40]
Gary O'Donoghue
You know, it's interesting because, you know, on the one hand, you've got a lot of people in a sense, correctly saying, look, the system worked. They got this guy before he actually did any damage. You know, in that brutal sense, the people who are meant to take the bullets took the bullet. In other words, the Secret Service, that is literally their job is to take the bullet if they have to. But on the other hand, people are saying, and also it's worth saying that the chief of staff in the White House House is convening a bit of a Meeting this week with the Secret Service to try and review and to look at security when the President is at various events. So again, this also happened after Butler kind of praise for the Secret Service, but then also, what the hell went wrong kind of thing. You get both sides of the coin. And I think in some ways that's right, because, you know, I mean, it was immediately on my mind, you know, on my question, on my lips on Saturday, you know, what on earth, you know, after everything we've learned, how does this man get within, I mean, 50 meters with two guns and a bunch of knives? I mean, I just kept thinking, imagine there'd been three of them, right. One of them would have got through those doors and it was down four or five steps and you were into the middle of a room, right, where there were two and a half thousand people and we were all crammed together, right? Absolutely crammed together with a semi automatic weapon. If you, you're in that space, you could have caused carnage in seconds, absolute carnage. Even if you didn't get, you know, Donald Trump or anyone on the top table, you could have caused absolute carnage. And it beggars belief really, that somehow the kind of confluence of the, the supposed security, but this normal hotel with all its guests in it, how that makes sense, I don't know. And you know, Hilton have blamed the Secret Service, as you can imagine, but they're getting a bit of a reputation, aren't they, given this was the very place that Reagan got shot as well.
- [26:40]
Adam Fleming
Yeah. And Sean, hearing about the security around President Trump makes you realize the White House way of doing things and the Buckingham palace way of doing things is very different in kind of scale, approach, manner, tone, kind of everything, isn't it?
- [26:57]
Sean Coughlan
Well, it does. And also coming at it from the eyes of a Londoner, one of the most surprising things since Gary talking about the Secret Service is that that the people who are the Secret Service have uniforms that say Secret Service on them and they drive around in black cars with Secret Service written down the side, which to my eyes doesn't seem very secret really. But the, the, it is his very different style and different, different sort of, there's a very, I suppose, very upfront approach. Their security is guns, glowers, sunglasses. There's quite a macho approach to the whole thing, which is probably different from our, rather more a different sort of approach. Again, you know, it depends what, what you're up against perhaps as well. And, and as Gary said, America is a country with not just people with strong views, but very strong guns as well, and access to all sorts of things. So, you know, I suppose the challenge is different in Britain and it is a very different thing. But I think that the royal trip will be very, very heavily policed. And one of the things I think that I'll be spending most of the time in the next few days is standing in queues, having documents checked and having every part of me scanned and every bit of equipment checked. I think that's going to be our lot for the next few days. Already seen hours of waiting in security processing queues is being offered to us. So I think that that could be a, rather to be very selfish. That could be one outcome from the other night.
- [28:32]
Adam Fleming
And Gary, earlier on, Sean and Joe and I were talking about whether this state visit can be a net positive for the uk kind of politically, economically, diplomatically, rather than it just being a sort of defensive thing of just get through it without it going wrong. What's your take on where the needle is on that dial at the moment?
- [28:53]
Gary O'Donoghue
I'm certain that Trump won't try and embarrass the King and Queen. I'm certain he won't do that. I don't think he'd do that. And I think if you asked him at the end of the trip, has it done any good, he'll probably tell you it hasn't, etc. But these advantages, these achievements can evaporate in a moment. You know, if the President gets upset about something that comes out of London or something London won't do, you know, the good that's done doesn't necessarily last. So I would have pretty, pretty low expectations for any kind of long term impact. The President enjoys having people like the King and Queen here. Obviously he has a soft spot in some ways. He's an Anglophile in that sense. He was very fond of the former Queen, obviously. But in terms of the lasting impact beyond that kind of glow that you get from the moment and the days around it and a couple of days afterwards, I'd be amazed if it kind of changes his overall attitude to the British government, for example, which we know can be, I mean, extraordinarily fickle.
- [30:09]
Adam Fleming
And is it true that the King's going to meet Zoran Mamdani, the Mayor of New York?
- [30:14]
Gary O'Donoghue
Yeah, I think that's right. I'm not completely, because I'm not really covering it very much, but they're certainly going to New York and they're going to Ground Zero and I think Mamdani is on the schedule. There was some debate about whether it was going to be a private meeting or not. I'm not sure what the status of it is but, but in some ways if you're in New York and you go to ground zero, then it makes sense to meet the Mayor because it's a massive figure in the city, isn't it? And we had that extraordinary moment, don't you think, when Mandani came to the White House and everyone was waiting for a massive punch up and it didn't happen. So maybe the President doesn't mind him meeting Mandani.
- [30:57]
Adam Fleming
But also Sean, to me that seems like another example of, of the, the genius of royal diplomacy in that if you go to New York, you've probably got to go and see the 911 memorial. And if you're paying tribute at the 911 memorial, you're probably going to be accompanied by the Mayor, the most senior politician in the city. Oh, who just happens to be a Democrat. So therefore you can then say, oh, we're not taking sides in American politics. We spoke to a controversial Republican and we spoke to a high profile Democrat as well. And it all just lines up very, very neatly.
- [31:26]
Sean Coughlan
Well, that's absolutely the case and I'm sure they will meet and they'll be. It is that sort of symbolic building of bridges and it will be very much that case, the case of appealing to both sides. And also I think there's a part of this trip is also looking beyond just the American political system. They want to reach out to the American public and try and send the message that there's a deeper connection between Britain and America beyond the occupants of number 10 or the occupants of the White House at the moment. That's kind of button they'll be pushing. And so I think not just meeting people like the Mayor of New York, but also they'll be trying to meet other bits of civil society. These garden parties aren't just all about import tariff free beef. It's also about pressing the flesh with all sorts of dignitaries and people from universities and people from charities and people from, you know, whatever local government, people from hospitals and talking to a broad swathe of civil society. And they're quite good at that and they're quite good at the chit chat and the sort of regal schmoozing. So I think that is a big part of this event too. Reaching above the political level and stretching out a hand and saying, we are all friends, don't forget us, we're still here. And meeting a broader number of Americans and trying to rebuild those historic bridges.
- [32:52]
Adam Fleming
Right. Well, thank you very Much both of you for lending your hands to newscast today. Sean, good luck with the broach commentary and even more deep analysis over the next few days.
- [33:01]
Sean Coughlan
Thank you very much indeed. I'll do my best.
- [33:03]
Adam Fleming
And Gary, good to catch up with you. And thank you for another amazing eyewitness report from a dramatic moment in American political history.
- [33:09]
Gary O'Donoghue
Oh, thanks, Adam. Thank you.
- [33:11]
Adam Fleming
And just as we finish that conversation, Downing street has put out the remarks that Keir Starmer made to his MPs at that meeting of the Parliamentary Labour Party, which is a regular meeting on Monday, but it doesn't always have the PM turning up. He basically said that this vote tomorrow about referring him to the Privileges Committee is not about a lack of transparency. This is a political stunt by our opponents who want to bring us down, obscure our message, stop us getting on with our work. And the timing tells you everything. Nine days before local elections, he said to his colleagues, tomorrow is pure politics and we need to stand together against it. Right, that's almost it. But I just wanted to read one of the great emails we got from people who came to Cast Fest at the weekend where they saw us making lots of podcasts at the BBC's historic Maida Vale Studios. This is an email from Kevin and Sinead, who actually I met in a tiny little recording studio cubicle where we let Kevin and Sinead make their own podcast, which was actually about earwax, which maybe is best kept between me, Chris, Kevin and Sinead. But it was a great, great opportunity to meet them and a great opportunity to let newscasters have a go at doing what we do every day. And then Kevin and Sinead emailed and it landed in our inbox this morning and it says, dear Chris, Adam and the team, we trained it down from Manchester, not quite knowing what to expect from CastFest, and left, having experienced so many firsts in one day. And then Kevin and Sinead do my favourite thing, which is a numbered list. They say, number one, stepping inside the iconic BBC Meadowvale Studios. Two, meeting you that we know from TV and radio, although newscast does feel like we're shooting the breeze with you over a curry and a beer. And number three, asking a question because, yes, there was a question and answer session with me, Chris and Henry, which you can actually listen to as a bonus episode in your newscast feed right now. Number four, grabbing photos and a few selfies. And five, recording our own little Eurocast with you in the studio that was used by Beyonce and Kevin and Sinead then say they also managed to do a Beatles style photo op on the zebra crossing outside Abbey Road. How many famous recording studios did Kevin and Sinead make it to in one day? I'm very impressed. Anyway, thank you to Kevin and Sinead for that email.
- [35:15]
Joe Pike
Thank you.
- [35:15]
Adam Fleming
Thanks to everyone who came along to castfest on Saturday and made it a very kind of powerful day for us podcasters too. And thank you to you for listening to this episode of Newscast. There'll be another one along very soon.
- [35:27]
Joe Pike
Bye bye.
- [35:28]
Adam Fleming
Newscast.
- [35:29]
Sean Coughlan
Newscast from the BBC.
- [35:30]
Joe Pike
Well, thank you for making it to
- [35:32]
Gary O'Donoghue
the end of another Newscast.
- [35:33]
Joe Pike
You clearly ooze stamina. Can I gently encourage you to subscribe
- [35:38]
Sean Coughlan
to us on BBC Sounds? And then, without having to do anything
- [35:42]
Gary O'Donoghue
else, our meandering chat will miraculously make
- [35:45]
Joe Pike
its way to your phone.
- [35:57]
Tristan Redman
What's actually happening inside Iran? I'm Tristan Redman, host of the Global Story podcast from the BBC. Iranians have been under a near total Internet blackout for several months. Few Western journalists have been permitted to operate in the country. But in recent weeks, the BBC's chief international correspondent, Lis Doucet, has been reporting on the ground in Tehran. For more, listen to the global story on BBC.com or wherever you get your podcasts.