Mud

While some hacks have been rubbing their hands at the good newslines Mandy's return to Westminster may bring, others are happy just to have a clear voice to talk to.

He may be the "Prince of Darkness" but Mandy knows how to talk to journalists - whatever the pretext of his comments might be.

That is in stark contrast to the army of departmental and ministerial spokespeople.

When asked whether Mandelson would change the Government's proposals on flexi-time working hours a Number Ten spokesman said...

"The current position is that no decisions have been taken on any of these things to change the current position."