Til' death us do Part - A reminder to Mandelson

Mandy or more rightly The Right Honourable The Lord Mandelson, had his first speech as a Minister in the House of Lords yesterday. Apparently it a was all slickness and sweetness. However the reply to Mandy had a few nice touches of irony for him. As Simon Hoggart explains

The Tory Lord Hunt replied in equally glutinous terms. "A very accomplished maiden speech!" he gushed. "He led us on a fascinating and absorbing journey through history ... his impressive career to date ... his tributes to colleagues and, in particular, the staff were much appreciated and reciprocated by us all! He has indeed joined the aristocracy."

At this point I thought I would gag, but at least he had concealed one or two little acid bombs.

"As a life peer he can only be introduced once into the house ... we are together now until death us do part."

He quoted the Bible on the topic of lilies: "They toil not, neither do they spin.

"While he toils, I am sure he will reflect deeply on the second part of that quotation ..."

This was good, sarcastic stuff, and I suddenly found my breath returning.

A little reminder to Mandy that the House of Lords may not be that easy a place to live if your life is full of spin.

It has become a difficult place to please as a number of Government Ministers have found to their cost just this week.

Simon Hoggart's sketch: Mandelson takes peers' breath away Politics The Guardian