Perhaps the most disgusting aspect of the resurrection of Peter Aloysius Mandelson is the fact that he has been made a life peer.
One person round the Cabinet table who doesn't have to fear the humiliation of signing-on at the job centre is Mandelson.

His reward for his year-and-a-half's service to Gordon Brown (always assuming he doesn't have to resign in disgrace again) is a guaranteed lifetime's income from the House of Lords.

He'll be entitled to collect his attendance allowance, currently £82.50 a day, in perpetuity.

While retirees all over Britain are struggling to make ends meet, as a consequence of Gordon Brown's destruction of our once-proud pensions industry, Mandelson will receive almost as much as the single person's weekly state pension every day simply for turning up at the Lords and signing his name on his way to lunch.

Perhaps the peerage was the price Gordon had to pay to persuade Mandelson to give up the ambassadorial delights of Brussels and his sumptuous home in the Rue des Jeunes GarÁons.

You'll be pleased to learn that in addition to his ministerial salary of £130,000 a year, Mandelson will also receive a £30,000-a-year pension from the EU and a generous 'resettlement' allowance to ease his transition.
What does he need a resettlement allowance for? He already owns a £2.4 million home in London.

When he was forced out of government twice, the blow to Mandelson was softened by tax-free 'severance' payments of £11,000 and £12,129 respectively - despite being lucky not to be driven away in a Black Maria.