He met Mr James soon afterwards and lived with him in the run-up to the election.The summer after Labour's 1997 victory Mr Mandelson, now Minister without Portfolio, was invited to stay at the Hamptons in Long Island with Peter Brown, former chief executive of the Beatles' company, Apple. Mr Brown was also close friends with Mr James; within months they had gone into business with Nicholas Lloyd (knighted in 1990 by Mrs Thatcher).Howell James received a CBE in November and celebrated with a launch party for the PR company Brown Lloyd James. Among the star guests was Mr Mandelson, possibly on the night he met Reinaldo for the first time. The three men were now part of a social circle that included John Birt, the Director- General of the BBC, who banned all references to the minister's private life the following year.The friends were connected by their hosts. Lady Carla Powell gave a birthday party for Mr Mandelson; her husband, Sir Charles, had been the senior civil servant in Thatcher's government, working closely with Sir Tim Bell (who now employs Dave Hill, a former colleague of Mandelson's). Another party was given by Robert Bourne, the leading bidder for the Dome.
He plays tennis with Charles Saatchi, whose brother Maurice, now Lord Saatchi, was one of Thatcher's media gurus.Mr da Silva and Mr James split up in March 1998. The student was seeing Mr Mandelson, the new Trade and Industry Minister, by the summer. When reporters surrounded the house in the wake of his first resignation, in December that year, Mr Da Silva escaped by dressing as a plumber. The couple made their first public appearance at the Dome on Millennium Eve.
Neither has been seen since Mr Mandelson's flying visit to his constituency last week.On Tuesday the law firm Goldsmiths wrote to national newspaper editors stressing that Mr Mandelson welcomed the inquiry by Sir Anthony Hammond QC and was confident it would vindicate his position; namely, that he had not lied.Meanwhile, the Hindujas had acquired a new mouthpiece. The PR agency Luther Pendragon was an unlikely candidate, having been a friend of New Labour - and employed by the Cabinet Office - when Mr Mandelson was in his pomp. The firm also worked with James Palumbo of the Ministry of Sound, who lent Mr Mandelson a car during the election campaign and is thought to have recommended Goldsmiths.On the day of the Reinaldo revelations a partner at Luther Pendragon, Ben Ritches, told the Independent Mr Mandelson was "soiled goods" with "a reverse Midas touch". The next day it emerged the agency would speak for the Hindujas.Charles Stewart Smith of Luther Pendragon said Ritches could not have known the business was coming their way. The firm had been recommended to the Hindujas by a mutual friend. "They are in India, but we have spoken a number of times on the phone," he said.
"I haven't met the brothers at all yet." Mr Mandelson must wish he could say the same.. Britain and Italy today announced plans for a joint initiative to cut off the flow of illegal immigrants into Western Europe through the Balkans and punish gangs responsible for people smuggling. Britain and Italy today announced plans for a joint initiative to cut off the flow of illegal immigrants into Western Europe through the Balkans and punish gangs responsible for people smuggling. Prime Minister Tony Blair and Italian premier Giuliano Amato pledged, in an article published today in the Observer, to work together to combat what they agreed was "the world's fastest growing criminal business." Downing Street confirmed the new initiative, which includes joint immigration patrols and tougher sentences for people traffickers.The two leaders said that in the first 10 months of 2000, more than 50,000 migrants are estimated to have passed through Bosnia in route to the West. The route through the Western Balkans has become one of the busiest transit points for illegal immigrants from Iraq, China and Eastern Europe.The United Nations has said the route could be responsible for 10 per cent of Europe's illegal immigrants.The European Union "must act decisively to ensure that the Western Balkans, so long prey to ethnic conflict, does not become captive to organised criminal structures," Blair and Amato wrote in the article. "This is why European governments must work more closely to tackle the flow of illegal immigration."Official figures released last month show that Britain has become the main destination for asylum seekers and with Italy's vulnerability to the traffickers because of its long Adriatic coastline, both leaders said they were well-placed to launch the initiative, which they hoped would be adopted across Europe.Blair and Amato pledged to send a team of police and immigration officers to northwest Bosnia to increase border checks.