It's no secret that there's little love lost between the chancellor, Gordon Brown, and the EU trade commissioner, Peter Mandelson - so much so, that it's infamously reported that when Mr Mandelson once asked Mr Brown for 10p to make a phone call to a friend, Mr Brown gave him 20p and told him to ring both.
In a rare London appearance today, at the House of Commons European scrutiny select committee, Mr Mandelson appeared to throw fuel on the fire. Asked if he'd read Mr Brown's new 7,000 word pamphlet putting the EU to rights, entitled Global Europe - Full-Employment Europe, the former Hartlepool MP said he hadn't - although he had read a precis of it in today's FT and "strongly" agreed with its sentiments.
So strongly, indeed, that he cattily added: "I recognise every argument, and much of the phraseology, from my own speeches that I have made during the course of the year."
Was he trying to wind up his old adversary by accusing him of plagiarism? It certainly fits with the recent history of the spat. At the Brighton conference this year, Peter Mandelson, talking of Labour's succession, reminded Radio 4 listeners that his own grandfather, Herbert Morrison, had been thought a shoo-in to succeed Clement Atlee in 1951 - but the party had decided to skip a generation. A comment guaranteed to raise the blood pressure in Number 11.
