Downing Street Says » Peter Mandelson

Asked if the Prime Minister had spoken to Peter Mandelson about his future as the European Commissioner, the PMS said that the Prime Minister believed that Mr Mandelson has been a very good Commissioner. The PMS went on to say that journalists would not expect him to comment on the Prime Minister’s private conversations and it was still early days in terms of thinking about who the next British Commissioner should be. In any case, as journalists were aware, Mr Mandelson had already said publicly that he did not want to serve a further second term.

Put repeatedly that Peter Mandelson had recently changed his mind, the PMS replied that the most recent, on the record comment that he was aware of from Mr Mandelson, suggested that he did not want to serve a second term. As the PMS had said, he was not going to get into private conversations that the Prime Minister had and it was still very early days.

Asked if the Prime Minister believed that Mr Mandelson did not want to serve a second term, the PMS said that Mr Mandelson had said that publicly himself.

Asked when the last time the Prime Minister and Peter Mandelson had spoken was, the PMS said that the last time they had spoken, as far as he was aware, had been a couple of weeks ago when the Prime Minister had been in Brussels.

Asked repeatedly if the Prime Minister had welcomed Peter Mandelson’s change of mind, the PMS said that there had been some unattributed remarks in some papers but he had not seen anything on the record from anybody. We would not get into the business of commenting on private conversations.

Put that the Prime Minister would presumably be happy for Peter Mandelson to serve another term as he had said he was a good Commissioner, the PMS said that the Prime Minister did believe that Mr Mandelson has been a very good Commissioner, but it was still very early days.

Asked to characterise the relationship between the Prime Minister and Mr Mandelson these days, the PMS said that the Prime Minister had a very constructive relationship with Mr Mandelson.

Asked if the Prime Minister intended to have any talks with Peter Mandelson today, the PMS replied that he was sure Mr Mandelson would be present at the meetings and if they had an opportunity they would talk in the margins, but there was nothing planned.

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» Thursday, March 13, 2008

Peter Mandelson

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