00:00Another day, another major arrest in the UK over the Epstein files and a deepening crisis for Prime Minister Keir
00:06Starmer.
00:06Peter Mandelson, the former UK ambassador to Washington, was arrested and then released on suspicion of misconduct in public office.
00:13It follows fresh emails released by the US Department of Justice which appear to show
00:18Mandelson forwarded sensitive government information to Epstein when he was serving in Gordon Brown's government.
00:24Mandelson returned to frontline politics when he was appointed by Starmer in late 2024 to that top post.
00:31The PM sacked him in September after a Bloomberg investigation revealed the extent of his relationship with Epstein.
00:37The Prime Minister insists that Mandelson lied repeatedly during the vetting process but MPs now want to see the paper
00:44trail.
00:44All this after Global Front pages were dominated by the arrest of former Prince Andrew last week on suspicion of
00:50the same offence.
00:51Both men have denied any criminal wrongdoing and no charges have been brought at this time.
00:56The Mandelson saga has raised questions about Starmer's judgment.
01:00It's also led to the resignation of some of his key aides in Downing Street and seen calls from Labour's
01:05leader in Scotland for Starmer to go.
01:08Starmer had just about managed to weather the storm but the arrest puts the controversy firmly back in the public
01:13consciousness
01:14in the same week that Starmer's Labour Party faces an election in Manchester
01:18at a time when the Prime Minister has hit all-time lows in the opinion polls.
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