Brown denies Mandelson 'did a final favour for Russian oligarch Deripaska'

Gordon Brown last night brushed aside new allegations about Lord Mandelson's links to Russia's richest man.

The Prime Minister said all of his Business Secretary's dealings with Oleg Deripaska had been above board'.

Lord Mandelson is under growing pressure to detail in full his meetings with the aluminium tycoon. It emerged yesterday that his last act as EU trade commissioner was to advocate rule changes which could benefit Mr Deripaska.  

Five days before his Cabinet recall, he set out plans for a trade strategy giving multinationals freer access to raw materials. Mr Deripaska's firm, Rusal, imports aluminium from Africa and India.

A summer visit by Lord Mandelson to the oligarch's luxury yacht has led to questions over a potential conflict of interest. Corporate Europe Observatory, a campaign group, has written to the EU Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso complaining of the 'undue influence' business leaders had over policy during Lord Mandelson's spell in Brussels.

Lord Mandelson insisted yesterday that he had done Mr Deripaska no favours.

'A lot has been said about the relationship I have with one particular Russian businessman,' he said before heading to trade talks in Moscow.

'All I would say about that is that he has never asked for any favours, I have never given him any favours and that is what the European Commission in their examination of the issue has very firmly put on record.'

Last night, British officials withdrew Mr Deripaska's name from the guest list for a reception at the British embassy in Moscow hosted by Lord Mandelson.

They said the move was routine and not a question of saving the peer from embarrassment.

Mr Brown gave Lord Mandelson, who has twice been forced to resign from the Cabinet, his unqualified backing on BBC Scotland's Politics Show yesterday. 

'When these things are investigated by the authorities, and the authorities say there's nothing to look at, nothing causing a problem, then unless people have any other evidence it should be left,' he said.

'To be honest we should be getting on with the work helping Scottish and British people through these difficult times in the fairest possible way.'

George Osborne was dragged into the affair last week after his former friend Nat Rothschild revealed he discussed a donation from Mr Deripaska in Corfu this summer. Since then the Shadow Chancellor has published a full account of all his dealings with the tycoon.

Lord Mandelson was forced to admit this weekend that he had known Mr Deripaska since 2004, years earlier than he had previously stated and ahead of his signing off of a reduction of EU tariffs.

His spokesman in Brussels has claimed the two 'never, ever' discussed any of his business dealings. 

But William Hague, the Shadow Foreign Secretary, said it appeared the Business Secretary had something to hide. 

'We, and I think the whole country, do want to know, transparently, about the meetings that have happened and what was discussed at them and whether they ever discussed aluminium tariffs and so on,' he told the BBC's Andrew Marr Show. 

'If Peter Mandelson could put the record straight on that then I think the media could move on to these immense issues of what is happening now with a recession in this country and these immense issues of foreign policy.' 

Tony Blair's former spin doctor Alastair Campbell, who has been brought back into the fold by Mr Brown, insisted Lord Mandelson's return to Government was good for Labour. 

'Gordon needs some big hitters around and Peter is a big hitter,' Mr Campbell said yesterday.

He confirmed he was advising Mr Brown and refused to deny speculation that the Prime Minister had offered him a peerage and a job as a minister. 

Communities Secretary Hazel Blears said yesterday that ordinary voters were more concerned about the economy than 'gossip'. 

'It's the bread and butter issues people are concerned with, not the rarefied high life,' she said. 

'Meetings between rich people on Greek islands don't have a bearing on ordinary people's lives(sic). To be honest, we have far more important things to concentrate on.' continues here

Revenge of Lord Mandelson? Osborne forced to admit FIVE meetings with oligarch in donation row (and just look who's smiling)

George Osborne is struggling to contain a political firestorm over illegal donations as he paid the price of crossing Peter Mandelson. 

The Shadow Chancellor was forced to admit discussing a potential £50,000 gift to the Tory Party from Russia’s richest man, and that he met him five times in total. 

Mr Osborne was left fighting for his reputation after what allies claimed was a dirty tricks campaign orchestrated by Lord Mandelson.



Labour’s new Business Secretary had blamed him for leaking embarrassing details of private remarks about Gordon Brown during a holiday in Corfu this summer, when both visited aluminium billionaire Oleg Deripaska’s yacht.

Yesterday the row took an extraordinary twist as one of the Shadow Chancellor’s oldest friends, Nat Rothschild, stabbed him in the back.

He claimed in a letter to the Times that while on board the yacht Mr Osborne attempted to ‘solicit’ money for the Conservatives from Mr Deripaska.

Mr Rothschild, a friend of Mr Osborne and Lord Mandelson, was hosting guests at his family villa in Corfu and apparently invited both men on to Mr Deripaska’s yacht.

Mr Osborne held a press conference yesterday lunchtime at which he categorically denied the claim that he and chief Tory fundraiser Andrew Feldman had sought cash from the aluminium tycoon.

He insisted: ‘We didn’t ask for money; we didn’t receive any.’

But Mr Rothschild was telling friends he would not ‘back down’ over the allegations and was even prepared to defend them in court.

Sources close to him say they have a ‘silent witness’ - a wealthy American named Jim Goodwin - who was present in Corfu and will back up Mr Rothschild’s claims.



And last night the war of words escalated dangerously as Mr Rothschild issued a statement challenging Mr Osborne's version of events.

Though he did not deny initiating talks about the prospect of a donation by Leyland DAF, a UK firm controlled by the Russian, he insisted Mr Osborne was wrong to claim there had been no discussion of such a gift on the yacht.

He said another of his guests, Mr Goodwin, had witnessed the conversation and 'recalls that the subject of a donation by Mr Deripaska's UK company also arose briefly while we were on the boat, but the conversation gained no traction'.

He said at dinner at his house later that evening, the subject again came up in conversation, and Mr Osborne 'was interested in whether and how such a donation could be secured'.

Mr Rothschild said that a phone call between him and Mr Feldman in mid-September, when the possibility of a donation was again discussed, left him 'with the impression that the Conservative Party remained interested in pursuing it'.

The row over the Shadow Chancellor conveniently overshadowed fresh claims that Lord Mandelson, who signed off changes which benefited Mr Deripaska’s firm while EU trade commissioner, had known the Russian for far longer than he implied.

David Cameron made clear that his closest ally’s job is secure, insisting he had shown good judgment by turning down any donation and disclosing full details of his meetings with Mr Deripaska.

Last night the Shadow Chancellor issued an extraordinary statement admitting that he met Mr Deripaska five times. Four meetings took place over one August weekend.

He insisted he had not solicited or received any donation, or ever discussed directly with Mr Deripaska the possibility of him giving money.

He was forced to concede that he had been involved in a conversation with Mr Rothschild over the possibility that the Russian oligarch could make a donation. continues here

Nathaniel Rothschild: Letter to the Editor

Sir, Since your paper - along with your sister publication The Sunday Times - has made much out of what may or may not have happened at a private gathering of my friends this summer in Corfu, I thought I should make the following observations. I am surprised that you focus on the fact that one of my guests, Peter Mandelson, is a friend of another, Oleg Deripaska. Not once in the acres of coverage did you mention that George Osborne, who also accepted my hospitality, found the opportunity of meeting with Mr Deripaska so good that he invited the Conservatives’ fundraiser Andrew Feldman, who was staying nearby, to accompany him on to Mr Deripaska’s boat to solicit a donation. Since Mr Deripaska is not a British citizen, it was suggested by Mr Feldman, in a subsequent conversation at which Mr Deripaska was not present, that the donation was “channelled” through one of Mr Deripaska’s British companies. Mr Deripaska declined to make any donation. I mention this because it turns out that your obsession with Mr Mandelson is trivial in light of Mr Osborne’s actions. continues here

The Tories, oligarch Oleg Deripaska and a £50,000 question

Above the Rothschild estate on Corfu which has become the backdrop to a political donation row involving the Conservative party and Russia's richest man

Russia’s richest man entertained George Osborne and David Cameron’s chief fundraiser on his yacht in Corfu, leading to discussion of a £50,000 donation to the Conservative Party.

After the furore of Lord Mandelson’s stay on the same yacht, friends of the new Business Secretary have let it be known that he was not the only senior politician to enjoy the hospitality of Oleg Deripaska this summer.

In a letter to The Times, Nathaniel Rothschild, a mutual friend of Lord Mandelson and Mr Osborne, said that the Shadow Chancellor and Andrew Feldman, chief executive of the Tory party, spent time on the Queen K.

The allegations made by Mr Rothschild sparked a furious exchange of claim and counterclaim.

Mr Rothschild said that Mr Osborne and Mr Feldman discussed a donation from Mr Deripaska for Tory coffers. He also said that Mr Feldman suggested that Mr Deripaska might channel the money through one of his British companies.

The claim was vehemently denied by the Tories, who said it was Mr Deripaska who, at a later date, offered money. The Conservatives say they did not take up his offer. Donations by overseas residents are illegal, as is using a British company as a proxy to disguise an impermissible donation, under legislation passed in 2000.

Mr Rothschild’s intervention is the latest extraordinary twist in the row over the Russian billionaire, which until today centred on his links with Lord Mandelson. It is also the latest in a series of hotly contested holiday tales that have placed the Greek island at the centre of Westminster politics.

In his letter to The Times, Mr Rothschild alleges that Mr Osborne and Mr Feldman went on board Mr Deripaska’s yacht “to solicit a donation”. The claim is all the more sensational because Mr Rothschild has been involved in fundraising for Mr Cameron’s Tories and has been a close friend of Mr Osborne since they were at Oxford together.

A Conservative Party spokesman said: “The allegations made in Mr Rothschild’s letter are completely untrue. Both Andrew Feldman and George Osborne deny absolutely that they attempted to solicit a donation from Oleg Deripaska. Nor did they suggest a method by which he could conceal a donation via a British company.

“They spent a short period of time on Mr Deripaska’s boat at the invitation of Mr Rothschild. Donations to the Conservative Party were not discussed with Mr Deripaska.” continues here

Now Lord Mandy faces fresh questions over relationship with super-rich Russian oligarch

Peter Mandelson was at the centre of disturbing new questions last night over his relationship with one of the world's richest men. 

The controversial Business Secretary faces calls to make a statement to the House of Lords to explain more about his friendship with Russian Oleg Deripaska. 

Concerns over a 'potential conflict of interest' have arisen after two companies asked for Lord Mandelson's help following claims that one of Mr Deripaska's firms had cheated them over a $1billion (£575million) deal in Moscow.

The then European Trade Commissioner took up their case only for it to emerge that he had enjoyed hospitality aboard the 238ft yacht Queen K, owned by the very man who was the subject of the complaint. 

The magnificent Queen K, with a crew of 21 including a cordon bleu chef, has cabins for 16 guests and has undergone an extensive refurbishment since the Russian bought it two years ago.

With six decks, of which the topmost is entirely reserved for Mr Deripaska, the vessel has a pool, a jacuzzi, sauna and gym. 

The bathroom adjoining the master suite is clad in onyx, while the taps and fittings are gold. The spacious guest staterooms have marble bathrooms. 

A link between the newly ennobled Baron Mandelson of Foy in the County of Herefordshire and Hartlepool in the County of Durham and 40-year-old Mr Deripaska is believed first to have been made by his friend Nat Rothschild, a financier who advises the Russian tycoon, and his father Lord Rothschild.

The Queen K is said to have been moored off the north-eastern coast of Corfu, where the Rothschilds have a home, when the then-commissioner was seen aboard. 

When his presence on board was first reported, Lord Mandelson said he was merely attending a drinks party given by Mr Deripaska. He then said he had last seen Mr Deripaska at a dinner hosted by media tycoon Rupert Murdoch in Corfu.


It subsequently emerged he and other guests had been 'billeted' aboard the £80million yacht because Nat Rothschild had run out of room at his house in August. 

Last night politicians in both London and Brussels were planning to table questions demanding that Lord Mandelson make a statement to clarify why he failed to explain the potential conflict of interest.

Syed Kamall, Conservative MEP for London, said: 'He should come clean as soon as possible because as long as these allegations are swirling around they are a distraction from the very serious matters in which he and the Government are involved.' 

In addition, during his spell at the EU, Lord Mandelson twice acted to cut European import duties on aluminium from which Mr Deripaska's companies benefited by up to £50million a year, though there has been no suggestion he acted improperly. 

The issue will raise fresh questions over Lord Mandelson's judgment after he twice previously resigned from Cabinet posts over problems caused by his relationships with the rich and famous. continues here