At the time he was appointed ambassador, I assumed that the Americans had told Starmer who they wanted.

It stretches credulity beyond any possible limit to think that Mandelson had no idea what was going on on Epstein's island or it is mentioned, both of which he'd visited multiple times.

His defence that Epstein must have excluded him because he was gay only raises the thought that Epstein would have found other ways to influence and compromise him.

Of course, Laura Kuenssberg was never going to ask Mandelson any hard questions about that.