Lord Mandelson of Hartlepool?

This is a little confusing isn't it? According to the Sunday Times this morning, Blair is going to recommend Peter Mandelson for a peerage. This won't be part of a resignation honours list though as he missed the deadline for submitting a list to the appointments commission.

Reading the article though it makes the point that it is normal practice for former EU Commissioners to be given peerages, so I'm confused actually as to what Blair's role really is, or what position he has to make appointment recommendations.

Obviously it's unlikely that Brown would ever elevate Mandelson to the Lords even in keeping with past precedent for EU commissioners. It's worth noting though that in all his constitutional proposals (many of which are gestures anyway) he has not proposed to relinquish Prime Ministerial patronage to the Lords.

Were I a cynic I might think this story has been placed for purely political manoeuvring purposes by Mandelson himself. After all, he knows that Brown is unlikely to give him a peerage, so what better way of ensuring that the precedent is carried on than by playing up the Blair/Brown feud a little more?

Brown is desperate (as PMQs showed) to portray himself as a collegiate non-control freak that works well with colleague. Forcing him into a position publicly where, if he blocks a peerage, he will be shown to be the opposite of what he wants everyone to see might make sense.