If you're interested in the story about Peter Mandelson and his relationship with the Russian billionaire Oleg Deripaska (which the Sunday Times first broke at the weekend), it's worth reading Benjamin Wegg-Prosser's blog today for an account that tries to put it in some sort of context.
Wegg-Prosser, of course, used to work for Mandelson. He now lives in Russia, he's been present when Mandelson and Deripaska have met socially (although he wasn't on that yacht in Corfu) and he's written about it on his blog today.
I have seen these two men together at first hand on a couple of occasions. Upon taking up his role in Brussels, trips to Moscow became a regular feature in Peter's schedule. No surprise there; the EU is Russia's largest trading partner, there are regular summits between both parties, while Russia's entry into the WTO became in recent years nearly as important as the Doha Round itself. The first time I met them was a while back when he dined with Deripaska, German Gref (then the Russian trade minister) and Nat Rothschild at a neighbouring table to our own in Moscow's Pushkin Café. I recall my wife shared a long conversation with Gref about their time at Omsk University.
On one of his more recent trade trips to Moscow Peter spent a day at our dacha (we tried to go for a walk but it was -20º and we only got as far as the end of the path before turning back). We then went into Moscow and ended up having dinner with Deripaska. My main memory from the evening was the fierce disagreement, to the point of raised voices, that both men had on two issues: first, Russia's entry to the WTO, Peter wanted them to join, Deripaska didn't; second, the tariffs which the Russians were imposing on Finnish timber imports, Peter said they were illegal, protectionist and wrong, Deripaska argued that they were a necessary defence mechanism to protect a key national industry in an emerging economy. Their friendship was founded on these sort of jousts and arguments.
When Gordon Brown appointed Peter to his new job he made a point of highlighting the experience which he'd acquired in Europe and beyond. Peter was a success in Brussels in part down to the network of contacts which he built up across the Bric countries. And surprise surprise, that meant socialising with them. But these people are experienced enough to know that large cumbersome bureaucracies such as the European commission make decisions on things like tariffs after considerable thought and process not over deals done on gin palaces drinking cocktails overlooking Corfu.
Bric countries? I had to check it. It's an acronym for the fast-growing developing countries, Brazil, Russia, India and China.
