What Does A Business Secretary Do?

Lord Mandelson loves to be seen as the dynamic White Knight helping Gordon Brown save the world. It's just not clear what he actually does.

There's plenty of posturing about 'The Government is not a bank' and 'The lender of last resort', then we get measured words of how not every business will be saved and that those with more environmental friendly plans will be saved in preference.

Except, of course, the car industry - there are some industries, said Mandelson, which were too strategic to left the wither.

Mighty strong words. This was back in January and since then we have seen car companies announce massive decreases in sales, start to lay people off, cut wages and production and working hours in an attempt to stave off what seems to be inevitable. Some have been in dire need of support - LDV trucks, owned by Mandelson's good friend, Oleg Deripaska, has frozen production, Toyota have announced big cuts as have Honda while Vauxhall teeters on the brink of extinction.

Yet still we see nothing on the £2.3bn rescue plan which Mandelson announced back in January.

Criticism Does Not Help - Action Does

So today we have Mandelson issuing his own defence as to why the £2.3bn package remains just words. He blaims the fact that talks between the Treasury and the Bank of England, who in his estimation are in 'pole position', have taken too long in talks on this supposed 'complex area'. If it was that complex, then don't announce it, surely. Besides the Bank was probably oo busy printing money - at least that was doing something.

Mandelson effectively sidesteps any criticism and has dispatched one of his lackys, fellow peer Lord Davies, to find out what is going on. It seems in Government these days you don't use the vast arrays of communication technology at your disposal, you dispatch ones man.

Earlier yesterday Union officials, bankers and car company executives arrived at the Department of Business to discuss the Government's support package. No doubt Mandelson trotted out this pathetic excuse that others were to blame and so nothing happened.

The operative words are, this was the Dept of Business' support package and it was their responsibility to make it work. If they thought the car industry was dying and needed their help, then it was the Dept of Business who should have led the process, led negotiations between the Treasury and Bank of England and kept the industry at large informed. Instead, Mandelson has been too busy hobnobbing in New York and having fun on TV playing the 'Big Man'.

Once again, Government Minister's think by just saying something clever, it just happens, exactly as the ideal world scenario says it should. But like big bank bails outs and fat cats, the devil is in the detail and there is a huge difference between ideas and their execution. Big numbers don't impress us anymore - it's all about what is going to be done about it.

Once again, we got a lot of pretty talk and no action which will probably cost a great deal of jobs through dalliance and indecision. Mandelson should stick to getting green liquid thrown at him, at least he's good at that.