Ruled by Prince of Darkness

A STORY is told about Peter Mandelson that he once asked one of his British cabinet colleagues, Gordon Brown, for 10p to phone a friend. Brown said: “Have 20p, then you can phone them both.”

Mandelson certainly cannot count any European farmers among his friends, and few, if any, EU agriculture ministers.

In March, Ireland’s Agriculture Minister Mary Coughlan and 11 of her colleagues told EU trade and agriculture commissioners Mandelson and Mariann Fischer Boel of their concerns that EU market access for food imports, domestic support and export subsidies are being negotiated away by Mandelson in World Trade Organisation negotiations.