Speeches by Whittingdale.

“On 15 December.”

“So until 15 December you had no information that any discussion had taken place, and certainly that a decision had been reached.”

“When you were told that a decision had been reached and it was Peter Mandelson, did you express any concerns about that?”

“You say that your discovery of the closeness of his relationship was like a knife to the heart, but the box note says that you discussed with Peter Mandelson his relationship with Epstein, and that you then discovered, as a result of that conversation, for instance, the fact that he stayed in the flat belonging to Jeff…”

“I will follow up on one or two of the questions from the Chair. You said that the process had been under way for an internal competition but come the general election it was frozen. Once the new Government had been elected, was the process not then recommenced?”

“But in your conversation with the Prime Minister about Peter Mandelson’s relationship with Epstein, was the subject of Mandelson’s staying in Epstein’s flat after the conviction part of the conversation?”

“Well, that is the alternative: that he did not indicate in writing, but said, “I would like to have a meeting to discuss this.” But if such a meeting took place, there would be a record of it, and no record has been released.”

“The Foreign Office must have been continuing to look at potential candidates to replace Karen Pierce.”

“So the decision was that he required DV. That was your view and it was the view of the Foreign Office security department, yet we know that prior to him obtaining DV clearance, he was given access to information that would usually require DV to have been completed. How did that come about?”

“Coming back to the answer you gave the Chair about you leaving your post, you said that David Lammy told you that he wanted to make a change because of the transformation programme. Do you believe that your concerns about the way in which Peter Mandelson was appointed had any influence on the decision to ask you to lea…”

“When were you first told that it was likely to be a political appointment?”

“So how did you discover that the Prime Minister had decided to go ahead with Peter Mandelson?”

“Can I ask about the two notes that went to the Prime Minister from the private office about the appointment? In each case—they have been released under the Humble Address process—they are completely blank, other than the submission. There is no comment. The Prime Minister has not indicated any view. I have worked in Do…”

“And you missed the operator saying “Stepney Park”.”

“Can we take it that your phone would have contained quite a lot of communications, either with Peter Mandelson or about Peter Mandelson’s appointment?”

“So, actually, you believe there is a record of all your communications from that phone, which, if relevant, will be released.”

“Not DV.”

“A meeting took place, which led to the private secretary writing to say that that was the decision. Is there a record of that meeting?”

“One of the reasons the squad car didn’t come round was maybe because you gave the wrong location. You said you were in Belgrave Street, which the operator interpreted to be in Stepney. You said, “he turned left. There’s a park on top of the road” and the operator said, “Stepney Green Park, ok” and you said, “Yeah. He t…”

“Did you express a view as to whether or not developed vetting should take place before an announcement?”