Privatisation puzzler. Why didn't they get Mandy to sort RM

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Diary: Privatisation puzzler. Why didn't they get Mandy to sort Royal Mail?

http://www.theguardian.com/politics/201 ... -mandelson" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

How to explain a pro-business government like this taking such a bath on the sale of Royal Mail? One would have thought they were unworldly socialists. And how to explain the performance of its investment adviser, Lazard? The firm advised selling shares at between 212p and 262p, and picked up £1.5m for a crucial steer that now seems questionable. That Lazard should face such questions and potential ignominy seems strange, given that it has a real expert on Royal Mail on the books – Peter Mandelson, who was in charge of Royal Mail as a minister. He now chairs Lazard International. That might mean he is distracted by higher global things. But wouldn't it have been good if he had been able to keep them out of trouble regarding the potential value of Royal Mail. It could all have been quite different, one must think.

• A big shout out to Mandy, and a shout out to his former new Labour cabinet colleague, Alan Johnson. He'll be a bit glum today. Because we know that during Monday's prestigious press awards, the Guardian was named newspaper of the year, for – among other things – speaking truth to power over the revelations of the whistleblower Edward Snowden. And we know from the leak we received last month that Johnson, a guest judge at the awards, took the establishment line and was reluctant to see that happen. You will recall that every time he spoke against us, the former home secretary suffered a nosebleed. The fates were against him; his fellow judges were against him. We won't forgive what he did, though in time we'll probably forget.