Mandy in Brussels
So Peter Mandelson is indeed to be Britain's new commissioner in Brussels. And he will take the trade portfolio (both developments predicted exclusively in your soaraway Brussels diary in April). Shortly after his nomination, Mandy flew off to Lisbon to meet José Barroso, his new boss. Barroso made it clear that he was going to adopt a schoolmasterly approach to the EU's big three. Since France, Germany and Britain had all asked for the internal market portfolio, none of them were going to get it. This Solomon-like approach has not gone down well. A German diplomat, informed that not only had Barroso rejected Berlin's demand to create a new super-commissioner for the economy but that he also planned to deny the Germans the internal market portfolio, responded grimly, "We'll see about that." Mandelson is also apparently not too delighted with the trade portfolio - claiming that it will involve too much travel. Indeed, he seems to be in a bit of a grump about the move to Brussels, despite the foreign office thoughtfully including a guide to pet passports in his briefing material.
Perhaps an even more important question than whether Mandelson will take his dog to Brussels is that of who he will appoint as his dogsbodies. A commissioner's private cabinet is his eyes and ears. One obvious candidate for the Mandelson cabinet would be Philippe Legrain, Britain in Europe's chief economist. Legrain used to work as an assistant to Michael Moore when Moore was head of the WTO. Not only does Legrain know about trade, he is also a friend of Mandelson and a former Economist journalist who has written a well received book about globalisation (and contributed several articles to Prospect). And, as one British diplomat muses, he has another big advantage in an EU context - "He sounds like he's French, but he is in fact British." Perfect.
Once he gets to Brussels, where should Mandelson live? There are any number of shady millionaires with houses to spare living in the Belgian capital - but, on second thoughts, no. Chris Patten lives in a surprisingly modest flat, overlooking the Cinquantenaire park, which is a short walk from the office. But this might be a bit too functional for Mandelson. Perhaps a loft apartment in the Sablon would be the thing - nice restaurants, antique shops. How does that sound? And returning to the subject of the dog, it should be noted that Belgium is a dog's paradise. They seem to be allowed to crap wherever they like. The only protest I have ever seen lodged against this unpleasant fact was from a neighbour whom I came across moving determinedly from dog turd to dog turd, planting little flags in each one bearing the word "Bravo." Sarcasm - that's the way to deal with dogs.
Ukip latest
The arrival of Mandelson - along with Robert Kilroy-Silk - means that things are looking up for British journalists in Brussels. The hacks here are forever plagued by the fact that readers at home have never heard of any of the people they write about. Now there are two box office names in EU-land. But Kilroy-Silk's ten Ukip colleagues in the European parliament seem to have a distinctly uneasy relationship with their most famous member. On the one hand they know that his celebrity brings them huge publicity; on the other hand, Kilroy-Silk has a barely concealed rivalry with Ukip's sharpest MEP, Nigel Farage, a former city trader with a penchant for leading tours of the first world war's battlefields. But most Ukip MEPs are - as one might expect - very, very middle England. There are several small businessmen among them, as well as a BT salesman and economist from Lancaster University, with a bee in his bonnet about the euro. The whole group put themselves on display on the first night back at the Strasbourg parliament back in July. Their regular gathering place is a restaurant called La tête du lard - an appropriate name given the party's pig-headed attitude to the EU. The restaurant draws on Strasbourg's Germanic roots - with busty waitresses rushing in and out with overflowing glasses of beer. But one of the Ukip crowd turned out to be an oenophile. Tom Wise claims to have financed his campaign by selling six bottles of Vega Sicilia - Spain's most highly prized and expensive wine. An impressive move, given that Wise is by no means the kind of well heeled toff who normally quaffs fine wines. Nigel Farage seems to be rather less picky in his attitude to booze. After several bottles of white, he generously ordered a round of Armagnacs for his new journalistic friends - before moving on to Les Aviateurs, Strasbourg's rowdiest bar. At this point, your correspondent retired to bed.
Zaborska and Bloom
The Ukip MEP who made the biggest splash on his first day at Strasbourg was Godfrey Bloom, the Yorkshire businessman, who made his reputation by joining the women's committee - and then complaining about women's inability to clean behind the fridge. Still, odd as it may sound, Bloom may not be the flakiest member of the women's committee. The committee's new chair is to be Anna Zaborska, a Slovakian Christian Democrat, who has suggested that gays should not be allowed to teach children. Bloom may have a soulmate.
