Chris Mason

It was about the grooming gangs issue.

I mean, I think that's what we got from this whole data dump, right?

Yeah, you're right.

The key moments in the Mandelson saga didn't come from all of the documents that have been released, but what they have done.

And whenever you get this kind of level of information released from the government, which you don't get very often, it shows the inner workings.

It shows who's pulling the levers, who's the power brokers, how they communicate with each other.

It lifts the lid on the behind the scenes of government in a way that we don't always get to see.

And let's be blunt, it's not always very complimentary.

Even involved in the reshuffle, which was then later denied.

Maybe he was.

Yeah, I think you're probably not wrong.

I mean, he clearly had quite a lot of communications with very key figures in and around government.

But how much of that was him wanting to, you know, kind of exert an exercise for influence?

Hello, hello.

I do, I do.

It continues a longstanding Newscast, Brexitcast, Electioncast tradition.

Totally.

And it's what I love about by-elections in general and being out on the road, in particular journalistically.

It is the greatest privilege of the job, really.

So literally the local colour is posters on sticks of wood