Laura Kuenssberg

In this week's edition of the News Review on the PRmoment podcast, host Ben Smith, is joined by industry heavyweights Mark Borkowski and Angie Moxham to dissect one of the most significant political crisis management events of the year: Nicola Sturgeon’s high-stakes sit-down interview with Laura Kuenssberg on the BBC. Following her estranged husband Peter Murrell’s recent guilty plea to embezzling over £400,000 from the SNP, the former First Minister faced an intense 55-minute interrogation aimed at shifting the narrative from political complicity to personal betrayal. Ben kicks off the discussion by questioning whether the interview succeeded in separating Sturgeon’s personal reputation from the unfolding financial scandal of the party she led for nearly a decade. Mark Borkowski offers a sharp critique of the crisis communications strategy, noting that while Sturgeon’s performance was emotionally raw—particularly when discussing a £425 necklace bought with stolen funds—it ultimately struggled under the weight of incredulity. He argues that her core defense—claiming she had no "conscious memory" of a massive motorhome parked outside her mother-in-law's house—strained public belief, leaving the "brand" of Sturgeon severely damaged despite her formidable media skills. Angie Moxham shifts the lens toward the gender dynamics and long-term reputational impact. Moxham observes that Sturgeon deliberately weaponized a highly relatable narrative: the trope of a successful woman being unfairly blamed for the hidden, fraudulent actions of the man in her life. While Angie acknowledges that this framing could resonate strongly with a core segment of the public and female voters, she questions whether it can truly repair the massive trust deficit currently facing the SNP. Moxham analyzes how the "personal vs. political" mashup plays out for independent brand survival, noting that Sturgeon’s insistence that she is “serving a sentence for a crime I did not commit” effectively positions her as the primary victim, eclipsing the independence donors whose money was actually taken. The panel agrees that while the BBC gave Sturgeon the necessary space to outline her trauma and bewilderment, the interview highlights the near-impossible task of separating a leader's legacy from systemic organizational failure. Ultimately, the review concludes that while Sturgeon successfully reminded the public of her formidable communication prowess, the sheer volume of high-value goods involved makes an absolute reputational recovery unlikely. Finally, Ben closes the segment with an important industry notice, urging listeners to submit their entries for the upcoming Creative Moment Awards before the final entry deadline on June 19th. You can watch the Sunday with Laura Kuenssberg Interview to see the exact moment Nicola Sturgeon addresses the embezzlement scandal and discusses the personal toll it has taken on her life.

The BBC’s Laura Kuenssberg joins Ros and Katie to discuss her exclusive interview with Nicola Sturgeon, the first since her estranged husband pleaded guilty to embezzling £400,000 from the SNP. John Ferguson, Political Editor at the Sunday Mail in Scotland, also shares his experience of reporting on the story from the very beginning. Also on the programme, director Zach Heinzerling discusses how he secured unprecedented access to tennis player Rafael Nadal for his Netflix documentary Rafa. Minal Modha from Ampere Analysis assesses whether we are in the middle of a sports documentary boom. Plus, analysis of the ruptures in CBS’ 60 Minutes newsroom by Michael Grynbaum from The New York Times.

If you’re interested in this episode, you may also like 'How Swinney is managing the Murrell scandal’: https://www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/m002wt1n Nicola Sturgeon has spoken to Laura Kuenssberg about her estranged husband Peter Murrell embezzling £400,000 from the SNP. The BBC’s Andrew Kerr helps us analyse how the former First Minister handled the many questions asked of her during the 55-minute interview. Scotcast is the BBC’s Scottish news podcast. This episode is hosted by Martin Geissler and Natalie Higgins. Get in touch: scotcast@bbc.co.uk

Today, Adam joined Laura and Paddy to chew over the latest news from Iran, Scotland, and Downing Street. Ahead of the Prime Minister’s appearance in parliament, they discuss what we’ve learned today about what Sir Keir Starmer knew, or did not know, about the Lord Mandelson’s vetting by the foreign office. Laura spoke to cabinet minister Liz Kendall, who backed the PM and said that Starmer would have blocked the appointment of Lord Mandelson as US ambassador had he known he failed security vetting. Elsewhere, negotiations continue between the US and Iran over the Strait of Hormuz. But is it actually currently open or closed? Has the ceasefire been breached? And what happens next? Paddy has been putting those questions to Lyse Doucet in Tehran. Plus, Laura has been in Scotland speaking to voters and the party leaders about how those issues and others will affect which way voters go in the May elections. You can now listen to Newscast on a smart speaker. If you want to listen, just say "Ask BBC Sounds to play Newscast”. It works on most smart speakers. You can join our Newscast online community here: https://bbc.in/newscastdiscord Get in touch with Newscast by emailing newscast@bbc.co.uk or send us a WhatsApp on +44 0330 123 9480. New episodes released every day. If you're in the UK, for more News and Current Affairs podcasts from the BBC, listen on BBC Sounds: https://bbc.in/4guXgXd Newscast brings you daily analysis of the latest political news stories from the BBC. The presenters were Laura Kuenssberg, Paddy O'Connell, and Adam Fleming. It was made by Rufus Gray with Adam Chowdhury. The social producer was Sophie Millward. The technical producer was Jonny Hall. The assistant editor is Chris Gray. The senior news editor is Sam Bonham.

Today, Laura and Paddy unpack what the government will do to deal with energy pressures caused by the Iran war. Education Secretary Bridget Phillipson has told Laura that the UK should invest in home-grown energy, but leader of the opposition, Kemi Badenoch, says we need more drilling in the North Sea. And they also discuss the policies on energy prices from other UK political parties. Apply for tickets to Castfest here https://www.bbc.co.uk/showsandtours/shows/castfest-2026 You can now listen to Newscast on a smart speaker. If you want to listen, just say "Ask BBC Sounds to play Newscast”. It works on most smart speakers. You can join our Newscast online community here: https://bbc.in/newscastdiscord Get in touch with Newscast by emailing newscast@bbc.co.uk or send us a WhatsApp on +44 0330 123 9480. New episodes released every day. If you're in the UK, for more News and Current Affairs podcasts from the BBC, listen on BBC Sounds: https://bbc.in/4guXgXd Newscast brings you daily analysis of the latest political news stories from the BBC. The presenters were Laura Kuenssberg and Paddy O’Connell. It was made by Chris Flynn with Laura Cain. The social producer was Gabriel Purcell-Davis. The technical producer was Jack Graysmark. The assistant editor is Chris Gray. The senior news editor is Sam Bonham.

Editor Laura Webster, Digital Editor Laura Pollock and Political Reporter James Walker discuss Laura Kuenssberg's 'dumbest question ever' on Israel and why it could possibly want to lie. They also get stuck into the latest polling finding a huge pro-independence majority, plans for a Queen Elizbeth memorial in Scotland, and Laura Pollock goes inside the far-right Unite the Clans rally at Holyrood. Support The National with a subscription at thenational.scot/subscribe from just £1

Today, Laura catches up with Steve Rosenberg in Moscow and Frank Gardner in Saudi Arabia to get their take on the global impact the war in Iran is having beyond the Middle East. President Trump says the US military has bombed a small island off the coast of Iran which is home to one of the country’s most important oil terminals. Frank Gardner, the BBC’s security correspondent, explains how both the US and Iran are trying to secure their oil interests in the region. Plus Steve Rosenberg joins Laura from Moscow to talk about the US decision to loosen sanctions on Russian oil as the world deals with rising prices. But, what will this mean for Russia’s own war in Ukraine? You can now listen to Newscast on a smart speaker. If you want to listen, just say "Ask BBC Sounds to play Newscast”. It works on most smart speakers. You can join our Newscast online community here: https://bbc.in/newscastdiscord Get in touch with Newscast by emailing newscast@bbc.co.uk or send us a WhatsApp on +44 0330 123 9480. New episodes released every day. If you're in the UK, for more News and Current Affairs podcasts from the BBC, listen on BBC Sounds: https://bbc.in/4guXgXd Newscast brings you daily analysis of the latest political news stories from the BBC. The presenter was Laura Kuenssberg. It was made by Anna Harris with Laura Cain. The social producer was Sophie Millward. The technical producer was Ricardo McCarthy. The assistant editor is Chris Gray. The senior news editor is Sam Bonham.

On 8 March, on the BBC politics programme, ‘Sunday with Laura Kuenssberg’ , the former BBC political editor put these impassioned words to Seyed Ali Mousavi, the Iranian ambassador to the UK: ‘Since we last spoke, your government has killed thousands of its own people in the streets who had the courage to stand up to protest against the suffering that they have been experiencing at the hands of the regime. Thousands of people were killed. How on earth do you justify that, Ambassador?’ Clearly feeling deep emotion, Kuenssberg continued: ‘Just this morning, I looked at many of the images and watched some of the videos from what happened to protesters in your country in January. I looked at images and videos, verified independently [sic] by our colleagues at BBC Verify, that show body bags littered over the courtyard of a mortuary, the Kahrizak Forensic Medical Centre in Iran. I saw images of young, old, teenagers, people killed by your government, beaten faces, bloodied bodies, gunshot wounds.’ In a strongly accusatory tone, she confronted him: ‘How on earth do you justify that and sit there today saying, “Our people have some complaints”? Your government killed thousands of their own people and the world saw that’. When has Kuenssberg ever expressed such heartfelt revulsion at the genocide being committed by Israel in Gaza, with likely in excess of 100,000 Palestinians slaughtered? Has she expressed similar horror for 175 schoolgirls, staff and parents killed by the US in a ‘double-tap’ attack on a primary school in Minab in Iran? It seems some victims matter more. On the same politics programme last year, Kuenssberg said this about the genocide in Gaza: ‘Often when it comes to the debate about Gaza, it gets very binary and very aggressive very, very quickly and there’s no room for nuance.’ What possible nuance could there be about genocide? Her tone then was light, devoid of outrage for the tens of thousands dead Palestinians, the mangled and bloodied corpses, many of them babies and children, ripped apart by brutal Israeli firepower. Kuenssberg also aggressively challenged Mousavi about Iran’s supposed drive towards a nuclear weapon and how Iran could not be trusted to stick to international agreements. Mousavi pointed out that, on the contrary, Iran is a signatory to the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons, whereas Israel is not. Moreover, as we noted in our previous alert , in 2015, Iran signed up to the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), an agreement to limit the Iranian nuclear programme in return for lifted sanctions. Trump tore up this agreement when the US unilaterally withdrew from it in 2018. It should be obvious that to state such salient facts is not to side with the Iranian regime, nor to excuse its crimes. Journalist Peter Oborne, the Daily Telegraph’s former chief political commentator, reports that Iran stuck completely to the JCPOA agreement until the US withdrew in 2018. Until the US and Israel began their attacks, Iran was negotiating in good faith in order to avoid any war. The Omani foreign minister, who was involved in the negotiations, <a target="_blank"

“After four years of war, Putin, who supposedly possessed the second-most powerful military on earth, has only been able to take less than 20% of Ukrainian land. And yes, Zelensky has done an extraordinary job of marshalling his country and galvanising Western support... But the heroes are the people of Ukraine.” Laura Kuenssberg speaks to former British Prime Minister, Boris Johnson, and former head of the British Armed Forces, Admiral Sir Tony Radakin, about the war in Ukraine. Johnson was in Downing Street four years ago, when the Russian invasion of Ukraine began. As one of the driving forces behind the West’s initial response, he’s been critical of the slowness of allies in providing support to President Zelensky, which Johnson says has cost lives. The two men believe the conflict could have been prevented altogether if Western allies had paid more attention to Putin's increasing aggression and annexation of Crimea in 2014. Thank you to the Sunday with Laura Kuenssberg team for their help in making this programme. The Interview brings you conversations with people shaping our world, from all over the world. The best interviews from the BBC, including episodes with the Mayor of Kyiv, Vitali Klitschko, Iranian author Azar Nafisi, and the President of Somalia, Hassan Sheikh Mohamud. You can listen on the BBC World Service on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays at 0800 GMT. Or you can listen to The Interview as a podcast, out three times a week on BBC Sounds or wherever you get your podcasts. Presenter: Laura Kuenssberg Producers: Paul Twinn and Ben Cooper Editors: Diana Martin and Damon Rose Get in touch with us on email TheInterview@bbc.co.uk and use the hashtag #TheInterviewBBC on social media. (Image: Boris Johnson and Sir Tony Radakin Credit: Jeff Overs/BBC)

Today, Laura and Paddy are joined by Gary O'Donoghue, Chief North America correspondent to discuss the US Supreme Court’s ruling to block President Donald Trump’s global tariffs. Is this the beginning of the end of his tariffs, what’s Trump doing now, and what does it mean for where power lies in the US? Laura has interviewed former UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson and former Chief of the Defence Staff Sir Tony Radakin ahead of the four-year anniversary of the beginning of the full scale invasion of Ukraine. Boris Johnson said the UK and its allies “did not take strong enough action,” and the UK and its allies should deploy non-combat troops to Ukraine right now. Laura and Paddy dicuss Boris Johnson and Tony Radakin’s comments. You can now listen to Newscast on a smart speaker. If you want to listen, just say "Ask BBC Sounds to play Newscast”. It works on most smart speakers. You can join our Newscast online community here: https://bbc.in/newscastdiscord Get in touch with Newscast by emailing newscast@bbc.co.uk or send us a WhatsApp on +44 0330 123 9480. New episodes released every day. If you're in the UK, for more News and Current Affairs podcasts from the BBC, listen on BBC Sounds: https://bbc.in/4guXgXd Newscast brings you daily analysis of the latest political news stories from the BBC. The presenters were Laura Kuenssberg and Paddy O’Connell. It was made by Chris Flynn with Kris Jalowiecki. The social producer was Grace Braddock. The technical producer was Dafydd Evans. The weekend series producer is Chris Flynn. The assistant editor is Chris Gray. The senior news editor is Sam Bonham.

Today, Laura and Paddy are joined by correspondent Joe Pike to go through the biggest stories of the day. Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer has called for a stronger, bolder Europe, and deeper links between the UK and the EU. He told world leadersat the Munich Security Conference “we are not the Britain of the Brexit years any more,” and Europe “must be ready to fight”. We also look at a story about a think tank, Labour Together, which helped labour win in the General Election. They are accused of paying a PR firm to investigate the personal details of a journalist. Labour Together says its supporting an investigation. And, Laura’s been speaking to Dr Hilary Cass, the author of a major review into the treatment of children and young people questioning their gender. On Laura’s Sunday show, Cass says children have been "weaponised" by both sides of a toxic debate about transgender rights. You can now listen to Newscast on a smart speaker. If you want to listen, just say "Ask BBC Sounds to play Newscast”. It works on most smart speakers. You can join our Newscast online community here: https://bbc.in/newscastdiscord Get in touch with Newscast by emailing newscast@bbc.co.uk or send us a WhatsApp on +44 0330 123 9480. New episodes released every day. If you're in the UK, for more News and Current Affairs podcasts from the BBC, listen on BBC Sounds: https://bbc.in/4guXgXd Newscast brings you daily analysis of the latest political news stories from the BBC. The presenters were Laura Kuenssberg and Paddy O’Connell. It was made by Chris Flynn with Kris Jalowiecki. The social producer was Gabriel Purcell-Davies. The technical producer was Ben Andrews. The weekend series producer is Chris Flynn. The assistant editor is Chris Gray. The senior news editor is Sam Bonham.

‘I am not done. I have lived my entire career a life of service and it's in my bones and there are many ways to serve. I have not decided yet what I will do in the future beyond what I'm doing right now.’ Laura Kuenssberg speaks to Kamala Harris about her turbulent 2024 presidential campaign where she ran against Donald Trump. She was thrust into the race just 107 days before the election, after the incumbent President and Democratic Party candidate, Joe Biden, abruptly withdrew following a disastrous debate performance. She has now revealed in a new book the emotional and political turbulence of that whirlwind campaign. She opens up about the sting of electoral defeat, and her candid thoughts on Biden’s decision to step aside. When it comes to Donald Trump, she doesn’t hold back, calling him a ‘tyrant’ and a ‘fascist’. She also shares her vision for the Democratic Party’s future - and doesn’t rule out running again. Thank you to the Sunday with Laura Kuenssberg team for their help in making this programme. The Interview brings you conversations with people shaping our world, from all over the world. The best interviews from the BBC. You can listen on the BBC World Service, Mondays and Wednesdays at 0700 GMT. Or you can listen to The Interview as a podcast, out twice a week on BBC Sounds or wherever you get your podcasts. Presenter: Laura Kuenssberg Producers: Melanie Abbott, Ben Cooper and Joseph Cassidy Editor: Justine Lang Get in touch with us on email TheInterview@bbc.co.uk and use the hashtag #TheInterviewBBC on social media. (Image: Kamala Harris Credit: Photo by Scott Kowalchyk/CBS via Getty Images)