By Peter Mandelson, formerly Baron Mandelson of Foy
THIS weekend we lost a man who the world knew only by his rare public appearances, but one I was privileged to call friend. Despite our differences.
Yes, the Ayatollah Khamenei and I may not have had much in common on paper. He was the Supreme Leader of Iran while I was only ever Britain’s Grand Vizier. He was anti-Semitic and homophobic while I’m gay and Jewish. He had a beard and I don’t.
Sometimes he’d say to me, when we were wandering around his subterranean uranium refinery, ‘Peter. Why is it that we have become so close, despite everything? Please, ask your younger Brazilian lover not to touch the cyclotron.’
And I’d reply ‘Because, Khami, we have so much in common. We both love the finer things in life. We both believe in ourselves. Ultimately, we both have a touching faith that enriching ourselves will enrich the world.’
How did we meet? At a production of Les Miserables in Paris. He was sitting in front of me, turbaned-up as usual, and I asked if he could remove it. ‘A thousand deaths to you, infidel,’ he said, but with a twinkle in his eye.
I apologised, realising he was rich, and said I fully supported the fatwah on Salman Rushdie because The Ground Beneath My Feet was frankly a slog. Oops! Wrong Ayatollah! But we had a laugh about that and it broke the ice.
An invitation to Tehran soon followed and we got along famously. Turns out we knew all the same oligarchs. Over tea we’d chat and I wasn’t afraid to push back – I think women can ride bicycles and still deserve to live – but he was always courteous.
It is, therefore, with no small sadness that I mark his passing. In tribute, I think I shall grow an enormous beard, convert to Islam and put myself forward as the new Supreme Leader. Why not? Tony Blair’s running Gaza.
