Press Association

Peter Mandelson, as Trade Secretary, presented Tony Blair today with the Fenner Brockway medal for his contribution to British-Indian relations. What a complex of thoughts could be, but probably aren't, passing through their minds. Peter, sacked twice by his friend, now rehabilitated by their common enemy, is the most powerful man in the country (currently some kind of regency), and he is bestowing an honour on the former most powerful man in the country.

What most interested the Daily Mail, of course, is that Blair still had just about visible the signs of a black eye, sustained "in the gym". As Alastair Campbell blogged the other day,

When I think back on the volume of coverage generated by the first time he wore glasses, or the mug he was holding on the day Leo was born, or the new Caesar haircut he once wore, not to mention some of the casual clothes disaster areas he kept lurching into (see diaries for full details) what would they have done if he turned up at PMQs with a shiner?
 

OMG, as my daughter says. Guaranteed front page picture everywhere. The need for Number 10 spokesman to explain in graphic detail, blow by blow, minute by minute, what happened. None of which would stop a host of conspiracy theories, not to mention days worth of cartoons.

There are definitely advantages to being a former PM, and a former spokesman to said PM.

Finally, there is the curiosity of the award itself, celebrating British-Indian relations on the day that David Miliband, the Foreign Secretary, tries desperately to recover from another undiplomatic incident with the Indian government.