The Mandy has become the new measuring unit of ministerial disgrace, it was announced by an all party comitttee on Lobby journalism yesterday. It marks a lifetime of involvement in political scandals for Peter Mandelson, either as an active participant or secondary briefer and anonymous diary source.
In future, all financial or political scandals will be benchmarked against the Mandy, a Mandelson sized source of embarrassment, which usually makes a massive splash on the front page of every newspaper, but disappears within 48 hours. The so-called dirty bomb has come to be regarded as a hallmark of modern spin doctoring techniques.
'Finally, Peter Mandelson has achieved immortality,' said one anonymous source, 'The family name will always be associated with headline catching. I'm sure his political idols would have been proud. I bet Herbert Morrison is spinning in his grave.'