Peter Mandelson disappeared from the Stephen Byers lobbying story pretty quickly didn't he

When the Stephen Byers lobbying story broke there were two strands, one was that Stephen Byers had boasted that he had persuaded Lord Adonis to avoid hitting National Express with huge penalties last year after it pulled out of its franchise to operate the East Coast main line.

"Between you and I, I then spoke to Andrew Adonis and said, 'Andrew, look they’ve got a huge problem. Is there a way out of this?' And then we sort of worked together - basically the way he was comfortable doing it, and you have to keep this very confidential yourself."

The other was that Stephen Byers claimed to have successfully lobbied Lord Mandelson on behalf of Tesco to block costly food labelling regulations.

Now the Lord Adonis story is being followed up by the BBC, albeit concentrating on the less than convincing government denials, whereas the Peter Mandelson story is relegated to a short denial. Let's look at The Mail's coverage and then the BBC's. The Mail reports the departmental denials thus:

'A Department for Transport spokesman yesterday acknowledged that Lord Adonis had spoken to Mr Byers about the issue but he said it was a ‘chance meeting’ at Westminster, at which no minutes were taken.

He insisted that the conversation had not influenced the final decision and that National Express had not escaped penalties.

...

In a statement last night a spokesman for the Business Secretary said: ‘Peter has known Stephen in the past but has barely seen him since returning to government. He has certainly not spoken to him about food labelling regulations and would not expect to.’'

The BBC's report takes a slightly different tack:

'Transport Secretary Lord Adonis has dismissed claims he was involved in a secret deal over a National Express rail franchise as "pure fantasy".

It follows undercover footage of ex-minister Stephen Byers claiming he had persuaded the minister to allow the firm to withdraw on favourable terms.

Mr Byers said later he had overstated his case and never lobbied ministers.

And Lord Adonis told peers there was "no truth whatsoever" in claims he came to "any arrangement" with Mr Byers.

But Lord Adonis's confirmation that he had had "a brief conversation" with Mr Byers in the House of Commons last June about the East Coast mainline led the Tories to step up calls for an inquiry by Cabinet Secretary Sir Gus O'Donnell into the claims. '

That "brief conversation" could be problematic...

The Mandelson link is dealt with thus:

'In undercover footage due to be broadcast on Channel 4's Dispatches programme on Monday, Mr Byers was also recorded saying he had intervened on behalf of Tesco to delay and amend food labelling proposals, by phoning Business Secretary Lord Mandelson.

The Business Department has denied the claims and Tesco said they were "completely fictitious". '

"completely fictitious"; like a mortgage application?


Meanwhile Gordon Brown decided there was no need for a government investigation and seems to expect that we will trust his judgement, whilst also suddenly becoming a huge fan of controlling lobbyists access to parliament.

Also the BBC reports that

'Harriet Harman told MPs that the prime minister had asked Sir Gus O'Donnell for assurances that the departments of business, transport and health - about which allegations were also made in the documentary - had looked into the claims.

She added: "They have assured the cabinet secretary that they are satisfied that there has been no improper influence on government policy or ministerial decisions."'

How in depth were the departmental investigations, who was asked and was any independent verification of claims attempted? I think we all know the answer to these questions, but it is interesting how the Peter Mandelson angle is rapidly disappearing from the BBC; what hold does he have over the BBC? Will the BBC mention this story on Newsnight? If they do will Peter Mandelson be mentioned at all?