The Observer.

Hello, I'm Alexi Moustress, and you're listening to Slow Newscast Extra, a new show every Thursday about a story we can't stop thinking about.

And this week, there's one story dominating the headlines,

the Peter Mendelsohn scandal and whether it spells the end for Kier-Starmer's troubled

premiership. Maybe it's because I'm just back from holiday, but I'm finding this story quite

tricky to get my head around. There's lots of twists and turns about who said what and who

vetted whom and when, so we'll get into all of that. But for me, the story also raises two

big questions. First, why has the Epstein scandal had so much impact in the UK? Epstein was the

nail in the coffin of the former Prince Andrew. It's caused the

resignation of one of Stama's key aids, the sacking of a top civil servant, and now maybe

even Stama himself. Whereas in the US, a president who actually hung out with Epstein has

seemingly remained untouched. And the second question I'm thinking about is what does this scandal say about Kirstama himself?

And I'm delighted to say we have the perfect guest to unpack all of this, our political editor, Rachel Sevesta.

Hi, Rachel.

Hi, Alexi.

Rachel, you've been in the thick of reporting on what's happened in the last few weeks.

Can you just talk us through it?

Yes, I'll try.

As you say, it's in a way it feels quite trivial.

It's about the security vetting of a British ambassador to Washington.

And who said what to whom?

Who told whom about it, what information was revealed

...