Prince of Darkness Peter Mandelson is back from the dead, perhaps awakened by the same Blairite resurrection that’s directing Sir Keir’s Labour leadership. Today he has launched a campaign to be selected as the UK’s nomination for the next director-general of the World Trade Organisation. That’s the same Lord Mandelson who during the EU referendum claimed Brexit would leave Britain with “no real trade negotiating capacity”…

Writing for the Times today, Mandelson explains that the global economy over the last 30 years has been one in which “corporate strategists have concentrated on finding new markets and minimising costs”. As explained by a pre-eminent corporate global lobbyist…

The former EU trade commissioner claims the state of global trade – and the WTO – is “not in good health and needs fixing”, arguing his main virtues would be:

• Trade liberalisation, as something that advances economic progress
• Fair negotiations with respect for less developed economies
• Consciousness of trade’s human, social and environmental consequences

Given he’s up against pro-Brexit, former trade secretary Liam Fox – whose team is currently directing journalists’ inquiries straight to the official No. 10 press office – the term ‘non-starter’ seems like an understatement…