The New Statesman.

Mandelson's Fall from Grace is being described as the scandal of the century.

Will he bring Kirstama down with him?

I'm Anusha Kellyan and you're listening to Daily Politics from The New Statesman.

And I'm joined by our political editor, Alva Ray.

Hi, Alva.

Hello.

Let's talk about the latest developments first.

So we're recording on Wednesday afternoon. It's after PMQs in which Keir Stama said

Mandelson had been stripped of his role as privy counsellor. And he was grilled about what he knew

prior to Mandelson's appointment as US ambassador about his links to Epstein. And he didn't deny knowing that the friendship had continued after Epstein was first convicted.

You've done a brilliant piece for this issue, lifting the lid on all of this,

you know, Mandelson's influence on the Downing Street operation as well as the vetting process

for him becoming US ambassador.

What do we think Stama did and didn't know about him when he was promoted to that role?

So, yeah, thank you for a nice comments about the piece.

It is excellent.

We might have to do this over a couple of questions because it's what he knew.

Yeah, it's a bit complicated probably.

But yeah, just to dive in, well, maybe it's not that complicated really,

but the piece itself has lots of different details.

So the piece details the way the shortlist for Washington ambassador looked under Sue Gray and how it changed after she left and Donald Trump was elected.

...