Trouble for Mandelson?
Peter Hoskin 12:59pm
Mandrake asks a sensible question in today's Telegraph:
"The last thing "Mandy" Mandrake would want to do is to cause any trouble for my near namesake Lord "Mandy" Mandelson, but when the Business Secretary appears before the House of Lords on Thursday to answer questions about his links to the Russian aluminium tycoon Oleg Deripaska, there is one matter I would like to see cleared up.But will he - and the public - ever get a sensible answer?Why, when I broke the story on October 6 of how Mandelson and George Osborne had been entertained aboard Deripaska's yacht the Queen K, did the Business Secretary's spokesman Peter Power tell me categorically that the social gathering was the "only contact" that he had ever had with Deripaska? Benjamin Wegg-Prosser, a former adviser to Mandelson, subsequently made it clear the pair had previously dined together on a number of occasions. Power told me that he had consulted Mandelson before he had addressed my question."
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South Londoner
November 3rd, 2008 1:31pm Report this commentMandelson’s problem is that it is likely he has been involved in so much nefarious activity, he dare not admit it. So when a journalist asks a question (and knows the answer) they often uncover a lie. Perhaps only a white lie is detected, but more often than not, it is covering up something more serious. Hence the spin can never stop, the truth can never be told, indeed what is the truth becomes a utterly meaningless concept.
Chuck Unsworth
November 3rd, 2008 1:33pm Report this commentSo, Power is a liar?
Andy Leeds
November 3rd, 2008 1:34pm Report this commentOf course he wont, and nor will we. But then again we all know what Mandelson is.
Mike, Brighton
November 3rd, 2008 1:39pm Report this commentSurely the answer is that lying is to Mandelson (and his spokesmen) as the sea is to a fish
Nicholas
November 3rd, 2008 2:10pm Report this commentTrouble for Mandelson? I do hope so. No-one is more deserving of trouble than he and I hope it comes in lorry loads.
Ginger Hicks
November 3rd, 2008 2:25pm Report this commentDo grow up boys. All politicians lie as do all journalists. At least Mandy is a grown up in the current pond of political pipsqueaks and nonentities in both government and opposition.
Mark
November 3rd, 2008 5:06pm Report this comment"Ginger Hicks": If you meant that Mandelson is a bigger and more experienced liar than others, I agree. But that does not make him fit to hold high, or any other, public office. He appears to be lying about his contact with Deripaska. Why? The only rational answer is because he has something to hide. So it is not just a matter of a politician stretching the truth, but of a reasonable inference that this particular politician has, yet again, acted improperly or, perhaps, in a way which leads to a reasonable suspicion of impropriety. He should come clean or go.
Nicholas
November 3rd, 2008 7:28pm Report this commentGinger Hicks - asinine comment, even for you. Mandelson is the king of villains. Your definition of him as grown up is curious. Presumably you would rate Herr Hitler as exceedingly mature and wise.
The Laughing Cavalier
November 4th, 2008 8:42am Report this comment4th November. I have just been listening to the (ig)Noble Lord being interviewed by John Humphries on R4. For sheer gall, bare-arsed cheek and misleading statements I haven't heard the like in many an age. Well, not since Mr Blair last made a statement to Parliament.
Frank P
November 5th, 2008 1:45am Report this commentHow many more times does this little weasel's commeuppance have to comeupp? Change his familiar from Mandy to Corky for Chrissakes! He is the personification of the combined arrogance of the whole bunch of this crapto-communist cabal. The bungled fate of Saddam Hussein is what he deserves - and force him to wear his loafers when it eventually is ordained!
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