The Daily T

A self-made financier, a master manipulator or a fraud hiding in plain sight? Jeffrey Epstein’s story begins in Brooklyn. He was the son of working-class parents and left university without a degree. Yet somehow he talked his way into elite classrooms and, eventually, the highest tiers of Wall Street.On today’s Daily T, Camilla and our writers Mick Brown and Robert Mendick trace Epstein’s ascent from a maths-savvy teenager and eccentric teacher to a powerful operator entrusted with billions. They explore his carefully constructed persona, the influential connections and the troubling behaviour that followed him long before his high-profile crimes came to light.Who was the real Jeffrey Epstein and how did he get away with it for so long?We want to hear from you! Email us at thedailyt@telegraph.co.uk or find @dailytpodcast on TikTok, Instagram and X► Sign up to our most popular newsletter, From the Editor. Look forward to receiving free-thinking comment and the day's biggest stories, every morning. telegraph.co.uk/fromtheeditorLead producer: Georgia CoanProducer: Lilian FawcettSenior Producer: John CadiganExecutive Producer: Charlotte SeligmanVideo Producer: James EnglandStudio Operator: Meghan SearleEditor: Camilla Tominey Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

"Deranged conspiracy and melodrama". That's how Harry and Meghan have described Tom Bower's explosive new book about them - 'Betrayal' - saying it had "crossed the line from criticism into fixation". On today's Daily T, Tom joins Camilla and Tim in the studio and says that's nonsense; they're awful, and the treachery, disloyalty, and duplicity of the Sussex's post Royal life could see them being cut out of the Royal Family for good.We want to hear from you! Email us at thedailyt@telegraph.co.uk or find @dailytpodcast on TikTok, Instagram and X► Sign up to our most popular newsletter, From the Editor. Look forward to receiving free-thinking comment and the day's biggest stories, every morning. telegraph.co.uk/fromtheeditorProducers: Lilian FawcettSenior Producer: John CadiganExecutive Producer: Charlotte SeligmanVideo Producer: James EnglandStudio Operator: Meghan SearleEditor: Camilla Tominey Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Is it really a Prime Minister’s Questions if the Prime Minister refuses to answer any questions? That was the frustration in the Commons this lunchtime, with Kemi Badenoch attempting to pin Sir Keir Starmer down on Peter Mandelson's appointment, but to no avail.Camilla and Tim assess a fractious and chaotic PMQs.Elsewhere, they speak to Sir Geoffrey Cox, the Conservative MP and former attorney general, after a barnstorming parliamentary speech in which he excoriated David Lammy’s plans to limit trials by jury – a feature of our justice system which Sir Geoffrey tells The Daily T is “intrinsic to the English character”.We want to hear from you! Email us at thedailyt@telegraph.co.uk or find @dailytpodcast on TikTok, Instagram and X► Sign up to our most popular newsletter, From the Editor. Look forward to receiving free-thinking comment and the day's biggest stories, every morning. telegraph.co.uk/fromtheeditorProducers: Lilian Fawcett and Georgia CoanSenior Producer: John CadiganExecutive Producer: Charlotte SeligmanVideo Producer: James EnglandStudio Operator: Meghan SearleSocial Producer: Nada AggourEditor: Camilla Tominey Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Rachel Reeves has used her ‘Mais Lecture’ speech at Bayes Business School to announce a ‘deeper relationship’ with the European Union, criticising Brexit for the damage it has done to the UK economy.Camilla, Tim and Allister Heath question why the Government is choosing to pursue closer relations with a bloc whose growth is a fraction of the United States’, and ask whether it’s more of an idealogical choice than a pragmatic one.Elsewhere, Camilla and Tim attend Reform’s latest press conference, which saw Nigel Farage launch a competition promising to pay the energy bills of the winner and their entire street for a year. Speaking to The Daily T, Farage also had his say on his party’s poll lead after YouGov were forced into changing how they show results following complaints from Reform.We want to hear from you! Email us at thedailyt@telegraph.co.uk or find @dailytpodcast on TikTok, Instagram and X► Sign up to our most popular newsletter, From the Editor. Look forward to receiving free-thinking comment and the day's biggest stories, every morning. telegraph.co.uk/fromtheeditorProducers: Lilian FawcettSenior Producer: John CadiganExecutive Producer: Charlotte SeligmanVideo Producer: James EnglandStudio Operator: Meghan SearleSocial Producer: Nada AggourEditor: Camilla Tominey Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Keir Starmer has once again refused to be commit to any kind of support for the conflict in the Middle East, even after Donald Trump promised “he will remember” the UK’s lack of action.In a press conference this morning, Sir Keir also refused to clarify whether fuel duty would rise in September, with the conflict already sending forecourt prices through the roof.After a weekend that saw damning extracts of a new book that paints Sir Keir as a Prime Minister in name only, with no fixed ideas, philosophy or political instinct, Camilla and Tim ask – what is the point in his premiership?We want to hear from you! Email us at thedailyt@telegraph.co.uk or find @dailytpodcast on TikTok, Instagram and X► Sign up to our most popular newsletter, From the Editor. Look forward to receiving free-thinking comment and the day's biggest stories, every morning. telegraph.co.uk/fromtheeditorProducers: Lilian FawcettSenior Producer: John CadiganVideo Producer: James EnglandStudio Operator: Meghan SearleSocial Producer: Nada AggourEditor: Camilla Tominey Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In one of his most candid interviews to date, William Hague admits to the Daily T that his stint at leader was “the least successful period of my career”.The former Conservative leader and foreign secretary tells Camilla and Tim he was too young to command the role. Hague also reveals how it felt going head to head with Tony Blair every week and opens up about the intrusion into his private life while in the public eye.Plus, he says Keir Starmer’s “flatfooted” response to the Iran war has brought on a “rocky” period in the special relationship but admits he is “haunted” by Iraq – a military intervention he supported at the time.We want to hear from you! Email us at thedailyt@telegraph.co.uk or find @dailytpodcast on TikTok, Instagram and X► Sign up to our most popular newsletter, From the Editor. Look forward to receiving free-thinking comment and the day's biggest stories, every morning. telegraph.co.uk/fromtheeditorProducers: Lilian FawcettSenior Producer: John CadiganExecutive Producer: Charlotte SeligmanVideo Producer: Will WaltersStudio Operator: Meghan SearleSocial Producer: Nada AggourEditor: Camilla Tominey Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

It’s the day after the release of the Mandelson files and now attention is turning to what isn’t in the documents. Crucially, we don’t know how the Prime Minister responded once he was presented with clear evidence that the Labour peer had a close friendship with Jeffrey Epstein.Sir Keir has insisted to Parliament that due process was followed at all times. But Tim and Camilla ask: do the revelations contained in these files make a mockery of that claim?Plus, the Government has pushed ahead with a formal definition of anti-Muslim hate despite concerns that it will be used to suppress free speech. We’re joined by the former Tory MP and lawyer Dominic Grieve, who co-wrote the new definition, to ask why Labour is prioritising this kind of discrimination just as anti-Semitism is on the rise.We want to hear from you! Email us at thedailyt@telegraph.co.uk or find @dailytpodcast on TikTok, Instagram and X► Sign up to our most popular newsletter, From the Editor. Look forward to receiving free-thinking comment and the day's biggest stories, every morning. telegraph.co.uk/fromtheeditorProducers: Lilian FawcettSenior Producer: John CadiganExecutive Producer: Charlotte SeligmanVideo Producer: Will WaltersStudio Operator: Meghan SearleSocial Producer: Nada AggourEditor: Camilla Tominey Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

The Mandelson files have been released, and they are damning.The documents reveal that Sir Keir Starmer was warned that appointing Lord Mandelson as US ambassador posed a “reputational risk” over his “particularly close” relationship with Jeffrey Epstein. They also make clear the PM knew the peer remained friends with Epstein even after his conviction for child sex offences.After sifting through the 147 pages, Tim and Camilla decipher the biggest revelations – including that Lord Mandelson was handed a £75,000 payout amid fears he might “go public”.We want to hear from you! Email us at thedailyt@telegraph.co.uk or find @dailytpodcast on TikTok, Instagram and X► Sign up to our most popular newsletter, From the Editor. Look forward to receiving free-thinking comment and the day's biggest stories, every morning. telegraph.co.uk/fromtheeditorProducers: Lilian FawcettSenior Producer: John CadiganExecutive Producer: Charlotte SeligmanVideo Producer: Will WaltersStudio Operator: Meghan SearleSocial Producer: Nada AggourEditor: Camilla Tominey Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Donald Trump said on Monday that the Iran war was “very complete, pretty much”. But Pete Hegseth, his defence secretary, has said we have seen “only just the beginning” of the assault. When asked for clarification, the president said, “in a way, it’s both”.But with suggestions that Washington was bounced into the war by Israel, and as Iran escalates the conflict across the region, is this even Trump’s war to end anymore?Tim and Camilla are joined by David Blair, The Telegraph’s chief foreign affairs commentator, to help understand the president’s plan (hint: he doesn’t have one). They also profile the Mojtaba Khamenei, the new supreme leader.Later, more Jeffrey Epstein questions for the Royal family, and this time it’s Andrew’s daughters Beatrice and Eugenie who are under scrutiny. Hannah Furness joins to digest the latest royal gossip, including suggestions that Princess Kate could be dispatched to Washington to save the special relationship.We want to hear from you! Email us at thedailyt@telegraph.co.uk or find @dailytpodcast on TikTok, Instagram and X► Sign up to our most popular newsletter, From the Editor. Look forward to receiving free-thinking comment and the day's biggest stories, every morning. telegraph.co.uk/fromtheeditorProducers: Lilian FawcettSenior Producer: John CadiganExecutive Producer: Charlotte SeligmanVideo Producer: Will WaltersStudio Operator: Meghan SearleSocial Producer: Nada AggourEditor: Camilla Tominey Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Keir Starmer and Donald Trump have finally spoken after the president hurled a string of insults at the Prime Minister over his inaction on the Iran war.But is the special relationship now irreparably damaged? Camilla and Tim react to suggestions that the King’s state visit should be cancelled and explain how decades of divesting from defence have made us even more reliant on our friends across the pond.Meanwhile, Trump has said that soaring oil prices, which have hit $118 a barrel for the first time since 2022, are “a small price to pay” for world peace. We’re joined by Tyler Goodspeed, the president’s former economic adviser, to understand what the war means for the cost of filling your tank.We want to hear from you! Email us at thedailyt@telegraph.co.uk or find @dailytpodcast on TikTok, Instagram and X► Sign up to our most popular newsletter, From the Editor. Look forward to receiving free-thinking comment and the day's biggest stories, every morning. telegraph.co.uk/fromtheeditorProducers: Lilian Fawcett and Georgia CoanExecutive Producer: Charlotte SeligmanVideo Producer: Will WaltersStudio Operator: Meghan SearleSocial Producer: Nada AggourEditor: Camilla Tominey Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Labour is too scared of losing Muslim voters to address Islamist extremism.That’s according to Fiyaz Mughal, the counter-terrorism expert who left the Home Office over concerns it was overlooking radicalisation in the Muslim community for fear of appearing Islamophobic.A moderate Muslim himself, Fiyaz tells Camilla that failed integration has bred ghettoisation of Muslim communities, and how a formal definition of Islamophobia will be “misused by malign actors to curtail free speech”.A Home Office spokesman said: “The Government regularly works with external partners and experts to discuss policy ideas, as broad consultation is an important part of responsible policy development.“The UK has one of the most robust counter-terrorism frameworks in the world with the powers needed for the security services and police to keep us safe.”We want to hear from you! Email us at thedailyt@telegraph.co.uk or find @dailytpodcast on TikTok, Instagram and X► Sign up to our most popular newsletter, From the Editor. Look forward to receiving free-thinking comment and the day's biggest stories, every morning. telegraph.co.uk/fromtheeditorProducers: Lilian FawcettSenior Producer: John CadiganExecutive Producer: Charlotte SeligmanVideo Producer: Will WaltersStudio Operator: Meghan SearleSocial Producer: Nada AggourEditor: Camilla Tominey Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Shabana Mahmood has announced a host of new anti-immigration measures in Labour’s most radical policy intervention since it came to power.The plans include offering asylum-seeking families up to £40,000 to leave Britain, as well as suspending student visas for four countries over migrants using the system as a backdoor route to claim asylum.Camilla and Sir Jacob Rees-Mogg assess the plans, after Mahmood tells Camilla at a press conference that the measures are "not the end of the action that we will take in this area".Elsewhere, Jacob condemns Sir Keir Starmer’s “flip-flopping” on Iran, which led to him being “bullied by his own Cabinet” into his initial decision to not allow US forces to use British bases.We want to hear from you! Email us at thedailyt@telegraph.co.uk or find @dailytpodcast on TikTok, Instagram and X► Sign up to our most popular newsletter, From the Editor. Look forward to receiving free-thinking comment and the day's biggest stories, every morning. telegraph.co.uk/fromtheeditorProducers: Lilian FawcettSenior Producer: John CadiganExecutive Producer: Charlotte SeligmanVideo Producer: Will WaltersStudio Operator: Meghan SearleSocial Producer: Nada AggourEditor: Camilla Tominey Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

A fresh China spying scandal has hit Labour after David Taylor, the partner of Joani Reid, the MP for East Kilbride and Strathaven, was arrested on suspicion of assisting Beijing intelligence. Police arrested Mr Taylor along with two other men under the same charges.The arrests followed a bruising encounter for Sir Keir Starmer at PMQs, where Kemi Badenoch branded his response to the Iran war “weak and pathetic”. Camilla Tominey and Tim Stanley review what happened, and express their surprise that Badenoch didn’t make more of Donald Trump’s “not exactly Churchill” criticism.They also speak to Gen Sir Richard Barrons, author of the Government’s 2025 strategic defence review, who says we need to be spending billions more on our military, but the Government is choosing to spend money on welfare instead.We want to hear from you! Email us at thedailyt@telegraph.co.uk or find @dailytpodcast on TikTok, Instagram and X► Sign up to our most popular newsletter, From the Editor. Look forward to receiving free-thinking comment and the day's biggest stories, every morning. telegraph.co.uk/fromtheeditorProducers: Lilian FawcettSenior Producer: John CadiganExecutive Producer: Charlotte SeligmanVideo Producer: Will WaltersStudio Operator: Meghan SearleSocial Producer: Nada AggourEditor: Camilla Tominey Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Sir Keir Starmer has been forced into an embarrassing scramble to send a warship to Cyprus, after France announced a major deployment to Mediterranean.Camilla and Tim speak to Labour MP Emily Thornberry, chair of the foreign affairs select committee, who has called the US-Israel strikes on Iran illegal – and tells The Daily T, “you can't attack a country because you don’t like it and because you want it to be different.”Meanwhile, the Chancellor has delivered her Spring Statement, in which she took the opportunity to re-run some of Labour’s most tired attack lines. Tim and Camilla are joined by shadow chancellor Mel Stride and his former party colleague, Reform’s Robert Jenrick, to unpack how Rachel Reeve's rosy-sounding figures are hiding a much darker economic picture.We want to hear from you! Email us at thedailyt@telegraph.co.uk or find @dailytpodcast on TikTok, Instagram and X► Sign up to our most popular newsletter, From the Editor. Look forward to receiving free-thinking comment and the day's biggest stories, every morning. telegraph.co.uk/fromtheeditorProducers: Lilian FawcettSenior Producer: John CadiganExecutive Producer: Charlotte SeligmanVideo Producer: Will WaltersStudio Operator: Meghan SearleSocial Producer: Nada AggourEditor: Camilla Tominey Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Donald Trump has told The Telegraph that he is “very disappointed” in Sir Keir Starmer, after the Government initially refused the US permission to use UK bases to stage an operation that killed Iran's supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.After the PM belatedly gave Trump the go-ahead, Camilla and Tim speak to former chief of MI6 Sir Richard Dearlove, who bemoans Starmer’s “flip-flopping” on the issue.While he does not think Iran presents an “imminent nuclear threat”, Sir Richard does believe the Prime Minister forfeited the right to be consulted ahead of time about the joint US-Israeli operation when he took his position. He also believes Mr Trump’s aim may be for Iran to be run by a “more compliant” group of Ayatollahs, rather than complete regime change.We want to hear from you! Email us at thedailyt@telegraph.co.uk or find @dailytpodcast on TikTok, Instagram and X► Sign up to our most popular newsletter, From the Editor. Look forward to receiving free-thinking comment and the day's biggest stories, every morning. telegraph.co.uk/fromtheeditorProducers: Lilian FawcettSenior Producer: John CadiganExecutive Producer: Charlotte SeligmanVideo Producer: Will WaltersStudio Operator: Meghan SearleSocial Producer: Nada AggourEditor: Camilla Tominey Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

A resounding win for the Green Party in the Gorton and Denton by-election looks set to cause seismic consequences, with Labour MPs once again questioning Keir Starmer's leadership.Camilla and Tim ask whether the PM should have allowed Andy Burnham to stand and if Labour's disastrous third-place result will speed up an Angela Rayner coronation.They also assess allegations of electoral fraud in the constituency, with reports of “family voting”, and assess Reform’s performance. With Matt Goodwin finishing second with a near 30 per cent vote share, there are reasons to be very optimistic for Nigel Farage.We want to hear from you! Email us at thedailyt@telegraph.co.uk or find @dailytpodcast on TikTok, Instagram and X► Sign up to our most popular newsletter, From the Editor. Look forward to receiving free-thinking comment and the day's biggest stories, every morning. telegraph.co.uk/fromtheeditorProducers: Lilian FawcettSenior Producer: John CadiganExecutive Producer: Charlotte SeligmanVideo Producer: Will WaltersStudio Operator: Meghan SearleSocial Producer: Nada AggourEditor: Camilla Tominey Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

It’s election day in Gorton and Denton, and the polls are so tight it’s impossible to call a winner. The campaign itself has been an ugly one, with each party accusing the other of dirty tricks and the Greens accused of “manipulating” an area with a large Muslim population in an attempt to divide the contest along religious lines. Telegraph columnist Allister Heath decries this “retrograde step towards sectarianism” as a “disaster for democracy”, as elections should be “decided on whether policies are good or bad, not whether you win the demographic war”.Elsewhere, Camilla and Tim reflect on damaging revelations by the Daily Telegraph that reveal a very different picture about Andrew Mountbatten Windsor’s final visit to “say goodbye” to Jeffrey Epstein in New York in 2010.We want to hear from you! Email us at thedailyt@telegraph.co.uk or find @dailytpodcast on TikTok, Instagram and X► Sign up to our most popular newsletter, From the Editor. Look forward to receiving free-thinking comment and the day's biggest stories, every morning. telegraph.co.uk/fromtheeditorProducers: Lilian FawcettSenior Producer: John CadiganExecutive Producer: Charlotte SeligmanVideo Producer: Will WaltersStudio Operator: Meghan SearleSocial Producer: Nada AggourEditor: Camilla Tominey Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

This week’s PMQs was dominated by the extraordinary arrest of Peter Mandelson, who was detained after police were allegedly warned he was preparing to flee the country by no other than the Speaker of the Commons, Lindsay Hoyle.Camilla and Tim react to the explosive exchanges at PMQs, including Kemi Badenoch’s attack branding Labour the “paedo defender party”, the Tories’ choice to go hard on student debt, and some very obviously planted questions on the Gorton and Denton by-election.And Tim headed to Gorton and Denton ahead of a knife-edge by-election to try (and mostly fail) to track down Zack Polanski, the Greens’ leader.We want to hear from you! Email us at thedailyt@telegraph.co.uk or find @dailytpodcast on TikTok, Instagram and X► Sign up to our most popular newsletter, From the Editor. Look forward to receiving free-thinking comment and the day's biggest stories, every morning. telegraph.co.uk/fromtheeditorProducers: Georgia Coan and Lilian FawcettSenior Producer: John CadiganExecutive Producer: Charlotte SeligmanVideo Producer: Will WaltersStudio Operator: Meghan SearleSocial Producer: Nada AggourEditor: Camilla Tominey Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

As Lord Mandelson’s arrest sends shock waves through Westminster, Sir Keir Starmer is set to face his biggest electoral test yet.It is not just a by-election; it is a referendum on the establishment. This week, all eyes are on Manchester as the Gorton and Denton by-election prepares to deliver a verdict that could redefine the UK’s political map and stick another nail in Labour’s coffin.Camilla and Tim are joined by Scarlett Maguire, pollster and founder of Merlin Strategies, to break down the numbers in what is traditionally a “red wall” fortress, discuss the extraordinary unpopularity of Sir Keir and the potential for a new coalition government.And they catch up with Matt Goodwin, Reform UK’s controversial candidate. The academic-turned-politician discusses his belief that the party will win the seat, the “darker forces” and “sectarianism” he claims his opponents are enabling, his comments on the UK’s fertility crisis and Reform’s push to win over white working-class and minority voters.Producer: Georgia CoanSenior Producer: John CadiganExecutive Producer: Charlotte SeligmanVideo Producer: Will WaltersStudio Operator: Meghan SearleSocial Producer: Nada AggourEditor: Camilla Tominey Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

If that deeply unflattering photo of Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor was not bad enough, there are now more revelations about his relationship with Jeffrey Epstein. The former prince is alleged to have spent taxpayer money on massages and faces questions over his use of RAF jets to meet with the sex offender.The wayward royal could even be removed from the line of succession under potential Government plans.Camilla and Tim ask if, amidst all the scandal, the Prince and Princess of Wales can keep the monarchy relevant, and if Labour’s latest talking point is simply a dead cat strategy to distract from their own failings.Plus, Reform’s “shadow” home secretary has pledged that his party will create a British version of ICE and slap visa bans on six countries if they get into government. But while Zia Yusuf also promised to protect churches and Christianity, Tim asks: is his message on immigration un-Christian?We want to hear from you! Email us at thedailyt@telegraph.co.uk or find @dailytpodcast on TikTok, Instagram and X► Sign up to our most popular newsletter, From the Editor. Look forward to receiving free-thinking comment and the day's biggest stories, every morning. telegraph.co.uk/fromtheeditorProducers: Georgia Coan and Lilian FawcettSenior Producer: John CadiganExecutive Producer: Charlotte SeligmanVideo Producer: Will WaltersStudio Operator: Meghan SearleSocial Producer: Nada AggourEditor: Camilla Tominey Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.