The old joke that you can tell when Peter Mandelson is lying – his lips move, still holds true. While Mandelson is in the broadcast studios telling a sceptical voting public that Gordon “is the best man for the job” in reality he thinks otherwise.

In private, as the Mail on Sunday reveals, his view is very different, in candid emails discussing the mental state of Gordon Brown he is damning, calling Gordon “insecure, self-conscious physically and emotionally, uncomfortable in his skin and angry”.

In other words, psychologically flawed.

More later…