Hi, I'm Sophie McNulty, and I'm a producer on the story.

This is a special afternoon episode of the show because there's a huge story brewing,

and we wanted to bring you the latest.

That story is the fresh controversy over the appointment of Peter Mandelson, who is the former

British ambassador to the U.S. Remember, last September, Mandelson was sacked over his links to the

child sex offender, Jeffrey Epstein. For months, Prime Minister

Kier Starrmer insisted that due process had been followed in his appointment, that Mandelson

was properly cleared by the security services. Last night, that claim unraveled. It seems

Mandelson actually failed his vetting. Starrour now says he was never told, calling this lack of transparency, quote,

staggering and unforgivable.

Many are now calling for him to resign.

So what went wrong?

What does this mean for the future of Starmer's premiership? And what happens next?

For the latest, we're handing over to her Times Radio colleague Carolyn Quinn.

Well, today's controversy involving Peter Mandelson swirls around why the foreign office's top official was able, apparently, to approve his

appointment as UK ambassador to the US, despite the fact he'd failed security vetting and without

sharing that detail with the Prime Minister. That top official, Sir Olly Robbins, is no longer

at the top. He's out of a job. Sir Keir Stalmers says he's furious he wasn't told.

That I wasn't told that Peter Mandelson had failed security vetting

when he's appointed is staggering.

That I wasn't told that it failed security vetting

when I was telling Parliament that due process had been followed

...