The enmity between the Blair and Brown camps seemed to be perfectly captured by the fact that Charlie Whelan had to resign after Mandelson’s first resignation. The Blairites were convinced that Whelan had leaked the story and the principle of an eye for an eye and a tooth for tooth demanded that Whelan go too.
It is only under the most compelling circumstances that you could imagine the two men working together again. That’s why the rumour that the two had met in Downing Street caused such excitement last weekend; it appeared to be an indication that general election planning was under way.
The rumour was so heavily denied that it was pulled from the papers. But now Steve Richards reveals in The Independent that:
“Mandelson has coffee with his old foe Charlie Whelan to discuss the politics of the recession. They did not meet for a meal as some have speculated, but they have met nonetheless in Mandelson’s departmental office.”
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