'Golden goodbye' package after just four years for new Business Secretary as questions hang over relationship with Russian oligarchPeter Mandelson will pick up a £1m "golden goodbye" package following his departure from Brussels, despite walking out after serving only four years as Britain's European Commissioner. The new Business Secretary will receive a £104,000 salary as a minister in the House of Lords, and qualifies for a total of £234,000 in "transitional payments" over the next three years to help him readjust to life outside the European Commission. But he is also guaranteed an EU pension when he reaches 65 - in 2018 - starting at £31,000 a year and rising in line with the cost of living. The overall cost of funding such a pension is put at £750,000. While most Britons prepare to tighten their belts as the credit crunch continues to bite, the new Cabinet minister - who will become Lord Mandelson of Foy and Hartlepool next week - can look forward to an additional annual payment of £78,000 for the next three years.
Peter Mandelson will pick up a £1m "golden goodbye" package following his departure from Brussels, despite walking out after serving only four years as Britain's European Commissioner.
The new Business Secretary will receive a £104,000 salary as a minister in the House of Lords, and qualifies for a total of £234,000 in "transitional payments" over the next three years to help him readjust to life outside the European Commission.
But he is also guaranteed an EU pension when he reaches 65 - in 2018 - starting at £31,000 a year and rising in line with the cost of living. The overall cost of funding such a pension is put at £750,000.
While most Britons prepare to tighten their belts as the credit crunch continues to bite, the new Cabinet minister - who will become Lord Mandelson of Foy and Hartlepool next week - can look forward to an additional annual payment of £78,000 for the next three years.
Peter Mandelson gave trade concessions worth up to £50m a year to Russia's richest man who has entertained him on his superyacht. The encounter on the 238ft yacht, Queen K, in Corfu this summer was the latest in a series of social meetings between Mandelson and Oleg Deripaska -- known as the "king of aluminium" -- during the politician's term as European Union trade commissioner. In the past three years Mandelson twice acted to cut European aluminium import duties. Deripaska's company Rusal, the world's largest producer of aluminium, was one of the main beneficiaries. At the time of Mandelson's Corfu holiday his trade department was a few weeks into a fresh investigation into aluminium foil tariffs, which could have hit one of the Russian's companies.
Peter Mandelson gave trade concessions worth up to £50m a year to Russia's richest man who has entertained him on his superyacht.
The encounter on the 238ft yacht, Queen K, in Corfu this summer was the latest in a series of social meetings between Mandelson and Oleg Deripaska -- known as the "king of aluminium" -- during the politician's term as European Union trade commissioner.
In the past three years Mandelson twice acted to cut European aluminium import duties. Deripaska's company Rusal, the world's largest producer of aluminium, was one of the main beneficiaries.
At the time of Mandelson's Corfu holiday his trade department was a few weeks into a fresh investigation into aluminium foil tariffs, which could have hit one of the Russian's companies.
