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Page last updated at 14:58 GMT, Tuesday, 7 July 2009 15:58 UK

Mandelson asked if he's PM's Willie

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Lord Mandelson displays a gift for comic timing after being asked by Tory MP Peter Luff if he is Gordon Brown's "Willie".

Mr Luff, chairman of the Commons business committee, was referring to Margaret Thatcher's famous comment about her deputy prime minister William Whitelaw - "every prime minister needs a Willie".

After a lengthy pause the business secretary prompts laughter by saying he is tempted to "extend the metaphor, but decorum..."

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