Friday, November 27, 2009

Mandy Gets Another Title

Excuse me if I am coming to the party late on this one, but I haven't seen a reference to it anywhere else. Apparently Peter Mandelson has been appointed as a Church Commissioner! No, really. Here's Lord Hunt from the Lords Hansard...

Lord Hunt of Wirral: I thank the noble Lord the First Secretary of State, Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills and Lord President of the Council for introducing this very important debate. I also welcome the latest expansion of his portfolio. I know that his role as Minister for Information has not yet been publicly confirmed but, having presumably become dissatisfied with the domain temporal, I understand that the First Secretary of State has now extended his remit into the domain spiritual as well. I apologise to him for not mentioning this before, and I sense a slight flurry of unease on the Bishops' Benches, but the noble Lord is to be congratulated on becoming a Church Commissioner.

A number of jokes come to mind. But I'd best keep them to myself...

Note: Mandelson's title is now First Secretary of State, Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, President of the Board of Trade and Lord President of the Council and Church Commissioner.


28 comments:

Archbishop Cranmer said...

Err...

His Grace is speechless with incredulity.

OldSlaughter said...

Which of these titles was this great democrat elected to?

If the crowds ever mass in this country what odds Mandy's neck touching the cutting block first?

Wow, we would be clambering over Marie Antoinette to get at him.

"Executioner proceed"

Ean Craigie said...

So now its Master Mandy, now say that 3 times quickly and keep a straight face

Arieh said...

I think that the Lord President is an ex-officio Church Commissioner?

Peter Groves said...

Oh, come on - not that I feel inclined to jump to his defence, but as lord President of the Council he's ex officio a Church Commissioner. Probably has dozens of other titles too if you care to look (which I don't). I think David Hunt should have taken a bit more care, too.

John Chilver said...

How appropriate for the greatest collector of offices of State since Cardinal Wolsey

Dungeekin said...

SO, any news on when he's getting hold of 'Defender of The Faith' and/or 'Lord Protector'?

D

................................. said...

So will it be the right or the left hand of God he'll be sitting on?

john in cheshire said...

Communists in religion? Well, he'll be right at home in the Church of England, won't he.

Demetrius said...

And I thought all the time he was going to be Pope.

Anonymous said...

... which means that the Church is for the chop. Undermining institutions from the inside is Labour's modus operandus.

Next stop, Archbishop Mandelson.

He is a very dangerous man.

Simon Wilson said...

This is hardly news-he has been a church commissioner for quite a while as the Lord president of the Council is always a co-opted church commissioner.

Unknown said...

He's only ex officio. It comes with being Lord President of the Council. Because the Anglican church is the state church the govt appoint several church commissioners. No need to worry! You can see the full list here: http://cofe.anglican.org/about/churchcommissioners/commissioners.html

Anonymous said...

Poor Mandy.

It can't be easy to serve as a Church Commissioner when you already believe that you are God.

Unknown said...

Was he ever in the Boy Scouts? Did he not get all his badges...

Dr Evadne said...

William Hague got there first. An absolute classic:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=geWERiWP7aA&feature=related

Anonymous said...

He probably thinks that he gets first dibs at the choirboys

Unsworth said...

'Mandy gets another title'. Ah yes, a further debasement of the currency.

Joe Public said...

L'lander 6:41

Damn you, I've just spilt my Friday tipple on my keyboard.

Snotrocket said...

You're always coming to the party late! You certainly don't seem to feel the need to come to the party regarding the shite-storm that is the UEA-CRU exposure. Then again, Devil's Kitchen, you ain't (More like Nigel Dempster of the DM, now i think about it).

Snotrocket said...

You're always coming to the party late! You certainly don't seem to feel the need to come to the party regarding the shite-storm that is the UEA-CRU exposure. Then again, Devil's Kitchen, you ain't (More like Nigel Dempster of the DM, now i think about it).

Newmark said...

Even odder is the fact that Speaker John Bercow, who is a Jew, is also an ex-officio Church Commissioner.

bewick said...

That's it then. If THIS slimy scumbag can achieve status in the Church then it's time for me to leave. I share NO standards with the "chump"
The Church clearly no longer has standards. I already told the other scumbag - Rowan Williams - to leave to resign but he hasn't

Iain Dale said...

Phil, I wrote about this extensively earlier this week.

jailhouselawyer said...

Didn't that other nice chap Idi Amin quite like every title under the sun?

Math Campbell-Sturgess said...

This brings to mind the brilliant sketch by Rowan Williams in his NTNoCN days where he's an atheist CofE vicar, talking about how he expects to see a Satanist vicar soon.
Of course, I should note in the spirit of religious tolerance that I'm not comparing the Dark Lord to a Satanist.
I've met several Satanists and Luciferians over the years and they're not *that* bad...

Unknown said...

The difference between Peter Mandelson and God? God doesn't believe he's Peter Mandelson. Eek.

The Radical Bookworm said...

Do try to keep up. He has been an ex-officio Commissioner for several months and this was was reported in the FT in June.

Mandelson is a declared atheist, and so is Bercow, who is also a Church Commisioner as is the (are we allowed to say this?) overtly gay Ben Bradshaw.