Mandelson, an Oligarch and a £500m Deal Over Dinner That Cost 300 British Jobs

Damning questions about Lord Mandelson's role in a controversial Russian oligarch's £500million deal which undermined British manufacturing jobs are raised today. The former Business Secretary was a 'valuable extra' as a dinner guest as billionaire Oleg Deripaska entertained American aluminium executives in Moscow. The meeting, also attended by British-born financier Nat Rothschild, resulted in a deal to sell two of Deripaska's giant Russian-based RUSAL factories to a U.S. firm, Alcoa

But the 2005 agreement had grave consequences for hundreds of British jobs. Mandelson - who was the EU Trade Commissioner - was in a position to allay 'concerns' over tariffs on imports from Eastern Europe. Indeed, over the following three years, they were slashed. This prompted the dumping of cheap aluminium on the European market, forcing at least four British factories to the wall. Within a year of the Russian deal, Alcoa closed its South Wales aluminium rolling plant with the loss of 300 jobs.'

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