Mandelson tried to smooth the way for passport applications by the Hinduja brothers. They wanted British passports to escape prosecution. Tony Blair, for one, was at the Hinduja's glittering Diwali party. New Labour minister Keith Vaz is a lesser fish. Yet the report into his conduct uncovers a world where money buys favours and cover-ups are the norm.
New Labour seems to be determined to match the Tories in sleaze and favours for the rich.
They are right to look to giving money instead to the Socialist Alliance and Scottish Socialist Party, which are standing against the rich and big business. Wafic Said is such a merchant of death, only instead of drugs he makes money from arms. This billionaire arms broker has built a business school named after himself in Oxford. He is a friend of Peter Mandelson and has close links with the brother of Tony Blair's chief of staff, Jonathan Powell. You can draw your own conclusions.