A good bet Mandy won't stay long?

Submitted by chris on Fri, 03/10/2008 - 3:55pm.

Mandelson: Third time lucky?Shadow Foreign secretary William Hague and the Tories are baffled by Peter Mandelson's shocking return to cabinet.

Hague said: "Bringing back Peter Mandelson – the man who created Labour spin – Gordon Brown has broken his promise to govern in an honest and open way.”

He added: "With this bizarre reshuffle the Prime Minister has achieved the impossible and made the Government even more dysfunctional.”

Mandelson, who returns as Business secretary, made a statement outside No 10, and told journalists: "It is all hands on deck."

He said it was a surprise and that Brown and him had frosty relations in the past, but he said it was all hands on deck to come together and help protect the economy.

Mandelson said it was the most he can offer - and jokily said at the end: "Third time lucky."

Mike Smithson, at PoliticalBetting.com bets that Mandelson will not be in the cabinet when the next election takes place.

Smithson said: "My reading of the terms of the bet is that you have a winner even if Mandy’s gets switched to another cabinet role and anything could happen with the party in the run-up to the general election.

Will Brown survive Glenrothes, for instance, and would a replacement leader leave Mandy in the same place? The bet looks good to me."

Political anoraks waiting for Brown to come out and justify his appointment...

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