PETER MANDELSON has been frozen out by Gordon Brown in his post as Britain’s European commissioner in Brussels in an extraordinary continuation of the epic feud between the pair.
The Chancellor has refused to speak to Mr Mandelson or communicate with him since he took up his position as Britain’s only representative on the European Commission in November 2004. Instead the pair have used civil servants and diplomats to negotiate with each other during decisions on vital national interests, such as Britain’s EU rebate.
Mr Mandelson let slip the full extent of the breakdown in relations between the men, once close friends and joint architects of the new Labour project, during a private meeting in Brussels.
He had not had any communication at all with the Chancellor since joining the European Commission — “not a comma, not a semicolon”, he said.
In this period Britain took over the presidency of the EU and fought a mammoth rearguard action to save its annual rebate from Brussels in the face of a campaign led by France and Germany to scrap the “British cheque”, in which Mr Mandelson was the sole British voice on the Commission.
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Officially, commissioners are meant to represent the European interest, but unofficially it is accepted and even expected that they intervene to promote their own country’s interests. The commissioners work collegiately and agree all policies together, so that Mr Mandelson would have a say on issues such as the British rebate even if it is not part of his trade portfolio.
If Mr Brown were to become Prime Minister he would have to decide whether to renominate Mr Mandelson for a second five-year term in Brussels in mid-2009, around the time that the next general election is expected to be called.
Much of Mr Mandelson’s standing in European political circles derives not simply from his post as Trade Commissioner but from the recognition in European capitals of his closeness to Tony Blair.
A source close to Mr Brown confirmed that the two had not talked during the British presidency of the EU but called it highly unusual that neither Mr Mandelson nor anyone from his Cabinet had made any attempt to contact the Treasury during this period.
The source said: “This is totally baffling. Why would Peter feel the need to do this?”