Evening briefing Tuesday 3rd February

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0:36This is the Times Radio evening briefing for Tuesday the 3rd of February. Lord Mandelson is to face a full criminal investigation into allegations he leaked market-sensitive information to Jeffrey Epstein. Metropolitan police are expected to announce he'll be investigated on suspicion of misconduct in public office, an offence that carries a maximum sentence of life imprisonment. The Times has been told detectives will interview Mandelson and take statements from senior Labour figures. Times Radio's political editor is Anna Mihailova. It is absolutely explosive and as part of the investigation we can expect Mandelson to be interviewed but also statements from Gordon Brown, the former Prime Minister, and other very senior figures around this from within government.

1:19Earlier Peter Mandelson indicated he's to step down from the House of Lords tomorrow. Downing Street welcomed his resignation saying he's let the country down. Opposition parties, though, are calling for answers from the Prime Minister as to why Lord Mandelson was returned to a high-profile position. Stephen Flynn is the SNP's leader at Westminster. I'm pleased that there's been movement, but I don't think that negates from the fact that the Prime Minister himself chose to appoint Peter Mandelson as his ambassador to the United States of America. He chose to bring him into the heart of his labour machine post-election, and he needs to be held accountable for that, because people knew, everyone knew, that Peter Mandelson had a relationship with Jeffrey Epstein and the Prime Minister chose to ignore that.

2:01In other news, a bus driver, sacked after knocking out a man who stole jewellery from a passenger, has been welcomed to Parliament, where David Lamy called him a hero. Mark Hohia was fired by Metroline after the incident last year. The passenger, Catalan Kajas, says her necklace was grabbed in an instant. I was the cause of it and even though it was not my fault, and I knew it was not my fault, I couldn't do anything better. I still felt very, very guilty about what happened to him because I think it was unjust. I don't think he deserved that. A minister is suggesting the BBC and Channel 4 could merge to help them better compete with YouTube and Netflix.

2:41Ian Murray, the creative industries minister, says that would allow for deeper and more strategic partnerships as audiences turn to streaming platforms. A report last month found YouTube is the second most watched video service ahead of ITV. Around a million people may have missed the self-assessment tax deadline, now face a£100 penalty. HMRC says 11.5 million returns were received, with 500 ,000 taxpayers waiting until the last day. And thousands of Ukrainians are without power or heating as temperatures hit minus 20. President Volodymyr Zelensky accused Russia of exploiting a US-backed energy truce to stockpile and then attack with hundreds of drones and missiles.

3:21The attack comes a day before a second round of trilateral talks between Moscow, Kiev and Washington in Abu Dhabi tomorrow. You can follow the Times Radio News Briefing on Spotify and listen live to Times Radio Online.

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