Mandleson was only third choice

Sue Cameron throws some straws into the wind by suggesting in her column today that Peter Mandleson was only the third choice when he looked for some Blairite influence for his cabinet.

According to Sue

Apparently, when Mr Brown decided to bury the hatchet with followers of Tony Blair, the former prime minister, the man he asked first was the former Blairite cabinet “enforcer” Alan Milburn. Word is that Mr Milburn turned him down, saying unkindly that the prime minister was “a disaster

and then

the PM asked John Reid, the Blairite former home secretary. Apparently, he said no, too, insisting that the PM was “the cause of the trouble”