Mandelson "took his medicine like a man" from Brown?

Discussions about Gordon Brown and his alleged temper have been reverberating around the political sphere in the last day or so triggered by extracts from Andrew Rawnsley's latest book being published in the Observer today.

Lord Mandelson was on the Andrew Marr show earlier today doing his bit and batting for his boss. He did his best to try and belittle the revelations and was spinning that it is good to have a passionate and driven person in No 10.

But then Marr asked him specifically if he had ever been hit by Brown. I was expecting a straightforward denial but instead he refused to deny it, said something about it being no secret that they have had their moments and that he (Mandelson) "took his medicine like a man". Is this an admission that Brown did indeed hit Mandelson at some point? If not then why did Mandelson, who always thinks very carefully about how he parses his statements not just say so?

It seems an odd way to try and dampen down the story to me.

Mandelson smarm fails to woo non-politicos

I watched Peter Mandelson's performance on Andrew Marr earlier and Marr struggled to land a punch on him for most the interview. I tweeted that Sophie Raworth would have done a much better job as she did with Mandy a few months ago although he probably would have refused to go on if it had have been her!

Paul Waugh tweeted that Mandy had messed up though and had confirmed in one of his answers that Balls had been considered for Chancellor. This is at odds with Brown's protestations that Darling was not considered for the chop. It must be hard for government ministers with all this stuff that is obviously true swirling around in their heads that they are not allowed to say, they are bound to blurt out the truth occasionally.

However the main thing I noted whilst appreciating Mandy's technical ability to not answer any of the questions was my wife commenting "He's a smarmy git isn't he?". She is not really interested in politics but I suspect that most non-politicos think the same thing and whilst he is "technically" a safe pair of hands, he is probably losing the Labour Party votes every time he slimes his way onto the media.

In the light of this I watched later in the interview when Marr made the mistake of not being totally accurate in the way that he portrayed Hazel Blears' exit from the cabinet. Mandelson was visibly delighted that he was able to hone in on this very slight nuance of inaccuracy and couldn't help but smirk whilst he jabbed his finger and made his point. It was not a pleasant sight.

Technical Political Score: 7/10

Joe Public Score: 0/10

UDPATE: Edited to correct what my wife actually said (she requested the amendment)!

Mandelson is very unconvincing on Smeargate

Just heard an interview with Peter Mandelson on Radio 4's "The World this Weekend" where he was attempting to draw a line under the Smeargate affair.

His main point seemed to be that it is ridiculous to blame Gordon Brown for the actions of his underlings and he is such a busy man that he cannot be expected to have made sure this sort of thing was not going on. Neil Kinnock made a similar point on Andy Marr this morning so this is clearly the line we are being asked to swallow. Mandelson also tried to big up Gordon Brown's now rather damaged moral compass.

I am afraid it won't wash. Here are a few reasons why off the top of my head:

1) Gordon Brown is famously a control freak and the idea that he had no control over very senior advisers like Damian McBride stretches credulity to breaking point. McBride would not have dared to do what he did without at least thinking he was doing his master's bidding. And why would he have thought that?
2) The implication seems to be that McBride was some sort of junior underling amongst many others. This is nonsense. He was one of the, if not the actual closest advisers to the PM.
3) Can you imagine the furore that Labour would have kicked up if the boot was on the other foot? Just imagine for a moment what would have happened if one of John Major's most senior advisers had been caught out trying to spread rumours about Tony Blair's sexual health, the psychological condition of Sarah Macaulay and lies about other senior Labour figures. Would Mandelson have come onto the radio to sympathise with Major's situation? Or would he have torn him a new one?

If this is the best Labour can do then they are in real trouble.