"ed," he said, "peter mandelson has resigned," and this is when peter mandelson was exposed for the geoffrey, this would be... so for people of a certain age, gordon brown is the new chancellor. and peter mandelson is very close to gordon brown and tony blair at the time, in theory at least. and a cabinet minister, dti secretary. but he had taken a loan that he had not declared, from geoffrey robinson, and after 48 hours... back in those days people resigned and he resigned quickly. so he rings me and as he rings me on my mobile to say peter mandelson has resigned, i realised we have left the beef in yvette�*s parents�* fridge at home and i turn to yvette and say, "where's the beef?" and gordon said, "i don't think you heard me — peter mandelson has resigned." and i said to yvette, "is it too late?" and gordon said, "what do you mean is it too late? he's already resigned." and i said to yvette, "can we turn back?" "there is no turning back now," echoed down the phone. but i got off the phone with gordon, having lamented the resignation, and rang yvette�*s mother and she drove in from hampshi

and gordon said, "i don't think you heard me — peter mandelson has resigned." you mean is it too late? he's already resigned." and i said to yvette, "can we turn back?" "there's no turning back now," echoed down the phone. but i got off the phone with gordon, having lamented the resignation, and rang yvette's mother and she drove in from hampshire and we got fully checked in and the sirloin was handed over, through security and the beef made it to italy. the moral of the story, ladies and gentlemen, is even when you are the advisor to the chancellor of the exchequer, it's your mum's roast sirloin that matters most. they would've been so upset. thank you forjoining me it's been a pleasure. thank you. i was sat next to david dimbleby on the bbc election night set when i heard the news that ed balls had lost his parliamentary seat. the truth is i was still rather emotional, i had lost my voice and i'd had cancer and come back and was struggling to broadcast and ifound myself saying on air exactly what i thought, which i don't always do. i said many people regarded