At 2.30 pm last Monday the House of Lords Chamber was packed. It is normally full, in anticipation of ministerial questions but there was a particular reason why the noble lords were high in number. At 2.37 precisely, a new Peer Elect wafted into the chamber, to be elevated into the nobility. I had met him fifteen years ago in a BBC interview room. Peter Mandelson, the former Member of Parliament for Hartlepool, was about to join us.
It was like a scene from the Mikado, with Peter and two noble supporters clad in red and gold shimmering ermine. Peter gently, but firmly, approached the Clerk of Parliament with his supporters Baroness Jay and Lord Faulkner. I almost expected them to break into song. But instead of a Gilbert and Sullivan rendition of Pirates of Penzance, Peter raised the Bible and took the oath. Perhaps the Clerk was nervous, because he dropped the oath card on the floor.
The new member was elected to “the state, degree, style, dignity, title and honour” of Baron Mandelson of Hartlepool and Foy in the County of Herefordshire and Hartlepool in the County of Durham. Quite a mouthful, but Peter is quite a personality.
It will be interesting to see how he performs as Secretary of State for Business, Enterprise and Regulatory Reform. The debates in the House of Lords are more polite than the cackling, squabbling arguments in the House of Commons. But the advantage that the House of Lords has, in particular to industry, is that many of their Lordships are captains of industry. The debates are not just about politics but substance. Peter should be on his mettle when dealing with issues now. Political posturing will not be enough to win.
Lord Mandelson has four years experience as Britain’s trade commissioner in Brussels, but will find himself against men and women with decades of experience in leading private and public enterprises all over the world. So, in this sense, the Prince of Darkness has come into the light.
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