The price of loyalty

So according to John Kamphner in the Spectator,

Tony Blair is in debt to his New Labour friends for their efforts to get him off the hook

The main news is that Peter Mandelson's support was bought in return for protecting his old ally Tony Blair

Mandelson — on Blair’s behalf — set down specific conditions for the Iraq war inquiry. The deal, I am told, was explicit. Not only would the hearings be fully in private, but the committee would, as with Hutton, be manageable. Brown was instructed to ensure that the members of the inquiry would, in the words of one official, ‘not stir the horses’. Brown readily acquiesced. He was not in a position to do anything else. It was a done deal, even before James Purnell sent alarm bells through Downing Street with his resignation on the night of 4 June.