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On Peter Mandelson, look, and I do try to give pretty full answers in these sessions,

I don't know any more than you do.

And therefore, there's not really much I can add to what you already know, I'm afraid.

And that's simply the state of the affairs.

Thank you, Jim.

That was Kirstama in January two years ago, before he was

Prime Minister. He was asked about an FT story, claiming that Mandelson had stayed in Epstein's

flat. Kirstarmer was told what had happened, and he pleads ignorance. But once Kirstama had become Prime Minister,

he knew all about the relationship between Peter Mandelson and Geoffrey Epstein.

So why was he still appointed our ambassador?

Was it a distinct lack of curiosity on Kier Stama's part?

Or was he just looking the other way? Welcome to the

newsagents.

The Newsagents. It's John. It's Emily. It's Lewis. And we are sifting through the newly

released Mandelson files. And to be fair, there is no obvious smoking gun that puts to an end all our questions and all our queries.

But there are some pretty significant clues in here, which tell us about how that appointment came about.

And who seemed to be asking the right questions and who

wasn't really asking any questions at all. The newly released documents show that the appointment

itself was so rushed that Mandelson was given classified briefings by the Foreign Office

before he'd even been vetted in full by the security services.

...