Now that Saif Gaddafi has been captured, the race will be on to interview him from a
prison cell and ask what his business was with the various figures of the British establishment with whom he was so close. CoffeeHousers will remember the 2009 party at the Rothschilds’ manor in Corfu: Saif, Mandy and
Nat Rothschild. A little later, Charles Moore revealed in The Spectator that the
trio were later reunited in a shooting party at Lord Rothschild’s Waddesdon Manor in Buckinghamshire. I spoke to Lord Mandelson a few weeks after the piece appeared, and thought CoffeeHousers may
be interested in the transcript.
The noble lord was outraged at Charles’ piece – because it suggested he was also hanging out with Cherie Blair that night. ‘I never clapped eyes on Cherie Blair, she was nowhere to be seen
unless she came after,’ he protested. The idea of being seen with her is ‘pretty unattractive’. By contrast, he wasn’t in the least bit worried about hanging out with Saif. ‘There was a dinner with
20 people and Saif Gaddafi arrived at the pudding course and didn’t sit beside me, but I did collar him afterwards because I wanted to ask him about something to do with a concern.’ What concern
might that have been? He didn’t say…
Peter Mandelson: I’m trying not to be disingenuous or hysterical, I mean I did go to dinner with Jacob and Serena [Rothschild] and they did invite other people and Mr Gaddafi did
appear at the pudding and I did sit him down and talk to him about something.
Fraser Nelson: So how do you regard him?
PM: I don’t regard him as an alright chap or a bad chap, I mean how can you judge?
FN: I thought you knew him a little?
PM: [sarcastically] Oh yes, I know him really well. I mean how do you know what he’s like? I don’t know, I’ve met the chap three times, once in a formal meeting, once briefly in
Corfu – because again I arrived at 11 o’clock at night and he left at half past eight the next morning – and then briefly, the other night, two weeks ago
And that was it. Will more be learned about Saif Gaddafi’s British connections? I suspect there are a good many people who hope not.
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