Mandelson affair: Downing Street locked in new war of words
The war of words over the Mandelson passport affair took a fresh twist today when the focus shifted to a Downing Street press briefing given by Tony Blair’s official spokesman Alastair Campbell.
Downing Street was challenged to release recordings of the briefing amid claims that Mr Campbell had cast doubt on the state of mind of former Northern Ireland Secretary Peter Mandelson.
But today Mr Campbell denied that he had ‘‘knifed’’ Mr Mandelson, who resigned his Cabinet post on Wednesday after giving contradictory accounts of his part in the passport application of a wealthy Indian businessman.
The row blew up after Sunday newspapers reported Mr Campbell as describing Mr Mandelson as ‘‘slightly detached’’ and comparing his state of mind when he quit to that of former Welsh Secretary Ron Davies after his ‘‘moment of madness’’ on Clapham Common.
The comments appeared as Mr Mandelson gave his own version of events leading up to his sacking, denying that he had lied and insisting that he had been rushed into resigning for an insignificant error.
But Sunday Times journalist Michael Prescott insisted that the press had not misrepresented Mr Campbell’s words, and challenged Downing Street to make public a mini-disc recording made by press office staff.
