Peter Hoskin

Adding up Mandelson’s influence

Fact of the day comes courtesy of the Standard’s Paul Waugh, who reveals that Peter Mandelson sits on no fewer than 35 of the 43 Cabinet committees.  Paul provides a full list over at his blog, but summarises it thus:

“The Empire of Mandelsonia now includes health, domestic policy, public spending, immigration, climate change, trade, the economy, Afghanistan, democratic renewal, Africa and ‘life chances'”.

To put this into perspective: Alistair Darling sits on 27 committees, David Miliband on 23, and Gordon Brown on just 12.  Yes, it remains astonishing just how influential and, well, ubiquitous Mandy has become since his return to government last year.

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