Listen carefully

October 26, 2008

Listen carefully

Peter Mandelson is at the centre of a fresh mystery over claims that Oleg Deripaska used his influence in the Kremlin to get him into Russia without the documents needed to enter the country, reports the Mail.

He arrived on a private jet with Mr Deripaska’s chief adviser - Nat Rothschild! - only to realise he did not have the right travel documents, says the paper.

In normal circumstances, it would have been impossible for Lord Mandelson to get into Russia ... all visitors, including diplomats and politicians, require passports and visas to enter. If they had been enforced in the usual way, Lord Mandelson, then the EU Trade Commissioner, would not have been able to go ahead with his meeting with aluminium mogul Mr Deripaska, who was campaigning to persuade the EU to slash tariffs on aluminium.

The Mail on Sunday has been told by a source, who at the time worked at a high level for Mr Deripaska, that his company was contacted and arranged for Mr Mandelson to go through immigration in Moscow, where he dined with the tycoon. Lord Mandelson yesterday denied that a visa was obtained for him by Mr Deripaska’s company, but refused to answer further questions about the visit.

Ten months after the trip, Lord Mandelson signed off a decision to remove a 15 per cent tariff on aluminium, said to be worth up to £100million a year to Mr Deripaska.
When first questioned about the decision, Lord Mandelson’s former spokesman in Brussels said there was no conflict of interest because the two men had not met.

Now we get an insight into the Mandelson technique.

A spokesman for Lord Mandelson last night refused to say if the peer had arrived in Moscow without a visa, or whether Mr Deripaska had helped him get into Russia. He did deny that Mr Deripaska had intervened to secure a visa for him, but he did not respond to written questions to establish whether he had managed to enter without a visa and, if so, how he had done so.

This is the technique. He "denies" something that he hasn't quite been asked. But oh dear, journalists have seen this technique before.So they seek to pin him down - but this is too sensitive, and he ducks responding.

When you listen to Mandelson, listen carefully to what he's been asked. Then listen carefully to his exact words, and see just how complete an answer he has given.

Incidentally, if Mr Freebie the Trade Commissioner was implausibly taking no part in discussions on aluminium tariffs, and decisions about them were oddly to be made entirely without reference to him, what was the point of the meeting with Mr D - without officials - while he was "campaigning to persuade the EU to slash tariffs on aluminium"? Maybe Mr Freebie had only to fly for dinner, to give his officials a signal. Otherwise it makes you wonder what Mr D and his charming adviser saw in him.

If we are to be ruled by these unelected supra-national philosopher kings, shouldn't their standards be so high as to shame mere grubby elected national politicians by the gleaming purity of their loftily disinterested probity?

Let's hope Mr Freebie enjoyed his dinner.