Labour fumes over Mandelson 'fightback'

By Hasan Suroor

LONDON, FEB. 10.In the past two days he has had collisions with two TV cameramen sending one of them crashing among the gravestones in a Church yard; had journalists stalking him thrown out of a radio station; and rubbished reports of his wanting a job in the European Commission - a story which he himself allegedly planted in the first place.

Mr. Peter Mandelson, the Cabinet minister sacked for his role in the Hindujas' passport affair, is back in the news determined, he says, to clear his name and rehabilitate himself. On Friday, he was in his Hartlepool constituency where, apparently, most people don't want him though he claimed

that they had been sending him flowers and cakes - a claim which the BBC Newsnight's correspondent discovered had no basis. He infuriated the Society for Prevention of Road Accidents when, in a radio interview, he compared his own condition to post-accident trauma.

Of course, he put it more graphically: ``It's like suddenly finding yourself in a ghastly road accident in which your car is written off and you step from the wreckage and continue your life.''

Well, Labour is clearly not happy with the way he is continuing his life, particularly his bid to cultivate its foes in the old- fashioned belief that enemy's enemy is your friend. In the past few days, he has been dropping in at right-wing newspaper offices including the Labour-phobic The Daily

Telegraph briefing them on his version of the story and saying that he is a victim of a `stich-up' by his former comrades.

Downing Street, it is stated, was furious on Friday morning when stories about the Mandelson `fightback' pushed out of the front pages the Prime Minister, Mr. Tony Blair's first major pre- election speech. In Paris, where Mr. Blair was attending an Anglo-French summit, the French President, Mr. Jacques

Chirac, wanted to know what it was all about as British journalists sought Mr. Blair's reaction to Mr. Mandelson's activities back home. An embarrassed Mr. Blair said: ``Don't even ask about it.'' To which Mr. Jospin, the French Prime

Minister, added: ``It is a private joke'' (between Mr. Blair and British media).

Meanwhile, even as senior Labour leaders dismissed Mr. Mandelson's statements as `froth', he continued to dominate the headlines for the second consecutive day pushing Mr. Blair's labours in Paris on to the inside pages.

And more `froth' was brewing as the Sunday papers began to finalise their front pages.

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