Oligarchs, Mandelson and Osborne

The Russian oligarch, Oleg Deripaska has rather weightier matters to worry about right now – such as, with credit markets still closed, where he's going to find the money to refinance the $4.5bn (£2.7bn) he borrowed to buy a 25 per cent stake in Norilsk Nickel – but that hasn't stopped him playing centre stage in Britain's latest political bunfight.

It was unwise, to put it mildly, for the shadow Chancellor, George Osborne, to use confidences learnt while holidaying in Corfu as a guest of his old college friend Nat Rothschild to attack a political bruiser as formidable as Peter Mandelson. Mr Rothschild saw the smear campaign as a betrayal of his hospitality and has given Mr Mandelson all the ammunition he needs to bite back.

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