Lord Mandelson

Last week Gordon Brown was saved by Lord Mandelson. This is a surprising turn around because in May 1994, Brown was expected to replace John Smith as leader of the Labour Party. Then Mandelson began spreading the rumour that Brown was gay and this story would appear just before the next election. As a result, Labour Party MPs decided to opt for the safety candidate, Tony Blair.

Mandelson was rewarded in 1997 when Blair appointed him as a Minister without Portfolio in the Cabinet Office, where his job was to co-ordinate within government. A few months later, he also acquired responsibility for the Millennium Dome, one of the biggest disasters in recent political history.

In December 1998, it was revealed Mandelson had bought a home in Notting Hill in 1996 with the assistance of an interest-free loan of £373,000 from Geoffrey Robinson, a millionaire Labour MP who was also in the Government, but was subject to an inquiry into his business dealings by Mandelson's department. Mandelson, who had kept the loan a secret, was forced to resign from the government. Robinson also resigned at the same time.

In October 1999, he was appointed Secretary of State for Northern Ireland. The following year Geoffrey Robinson "accused Peter Mandelson of lying to the Commons about the home loan affair". Despite this claim, Mandelson was allowed to keep his job.

In January 2001, it was revealed Mandelson had phoned Home Office minister Mike O'Brien on behalf of Srichand Hinduja, an Indian businessman who was seeking British citizenship, and whose family firm was to become the main sponsor of the "Faith Zone" in the Millennium Dome. At the time, Hinduja and his brothers were under investigation by the Indian government for alleged involvement in the Bofors scandal. On 24 January 2001, Mandelson resigned from the Government for a second time.

On 22 November 2004, Mandelson became Britain's European Commissioner for Trade. Once again he became involved in several scandals because of his relationship with some dubious multi-millionaires who wanted things from the European Commissioner.

On 3rd October 2008, Gordon Brown announced that Mandelson would return to government in the re-drawn post of Business Secretary, and would be made a life peer, entitling him to a seat in the House of Lords. It is believed that the right-wing members of the party (Blairites) insisted on the return of Mandelson in exchange for not bringing down Brown.

Mandelson was at the time being investigated for corruption by the European authorities. This involved his relationship with Oleg Deripaska, the owner of Rusal. Over the last three years, while working as European Union Trade Commissioner, he twice cut European aluminium import duties. Rusal, the world’s largest producer of aluminium, was the main beneficiary of this action.

Another person who has provided Mandelson with free holidays is Lakshmi Mittal, the world’s fourth richest man. In 2005 Mittal gave Tony Blair’s New Labour government £2m. This was not the first gift that Mittal made to Blair.

In 2002 it was disclosed that Mittal's LNM steel company, registered in the Netherlands Antilles and maintaining less than 1% of its 100,000 plus workforce in the UK, sought Blair's aid in its bid to purchase Romania's state steel industry. The letter from Blair to the Romanian government hinted that the privatisation of the firm and sale to Mittal might help smooth the way for Romania's entry into the European Union.

In 2006, Mittal mounted a £12.8 billion hostile bid for its nearest rival Archelor, which was based in Luxembourg and France. At the time Atticus Capital had holdings in both Mittal Steel and Arcelor and wanted the deal to go ahead. However, in Luxembourg and France there was strong opposition to the deal.

Mandelson, as the European Union Trade Commissioner, came under pressure from Mittal to support the deal. He agreed to do this by speaking out in favour of open trade and against European opposition to the deal. Eventually, the EU competition commission eventually approved the deal.

When Mandelson entered the government he is quoted as saying his main objective is to stop the government using “Old Labour” measures to deal with the collapse of capitalism. He is of course in favour of taxpayers bailing out the bankers but is strongly against the government taking over control of these institutions. As has been pointed out, Brown is currently following a policy of “socialism for the rich”.

Mandelson other reason for joining the government is to protect his Russian sponsors from suffering too much damage during the capitalist meltdown. After the fall of communism in 1989, Neo-Cons joined forces with the KGB, senior officials in the various communist parties in Eastern Europe and the Russian Mafia.

In the reshuffle on 5 June 2009, Lord Mandelson was appointed to the honorific office of First Secretary of State, making him Deputy Prime Minister in all but name. Mandelson was also appointed to the position of Lord President of the Council. It was also announced that he would continue in his role as Business Secretary, with much expanded powers.

Mandelson is now the power behind the throne. Mandelson's long-term objective is to become Foreign Secretary (the post held by his grandfather). However, David Milliband, holds that position. The plan is for Mandelson to oust Brown early in the new year and for Milliband to become prime-minister, allowing Mandelson to become Foreign Secretary.