'Freudian self-harm' behind Mandelson appointment

Prime Minister, Gordon Brown instituted a cabinet reshuffle over the weekend of Friday 4 October in a effort to relaunch his government and capitalise on recent gains in popularity owing to his stewardship of the financial crisis.

The reshuffle saw many prominent changes to the government front bench with several ministers bowing out for personal reasons and others returning from the political wilderness.

Notable ministers who stood down from their posts include Ruth Kelly and Margret Hodge both of which cited personal reasons for their step down from the government. While the reshuffle also saw the return of Peter Mandelson, who has been serving as EU commissioner for trade for the last four years.

Mr Brown and Mr Mandelson have a fraught personal history, including a well-publicised rift in 1994 as Mr Mandelson aligned himself closely with the prime minister in-waiting, Tony Blair.

However, in a rather unexpected twist, psychologist Lucy Beresford suggested that Mr Mandelson's appointment constituted a "Freudian compulsion to repeat... where people subconciously repeat patterns from their past, which are usually quite painful."

Speaking on the BBC's Daily Politics programme, she said: "That's almost bordering on self-mutilating behaviour."

Ms Bereford added that Mr Brown was "a deeply insecure person... with quite a great inferiority complex" which he deals with through "compulsive spending, often of money that he doesn't have."

Last week saw the unveiling of a £300 billion refinancing plan for the UK's embattled banking sector.

The Prime Minister has called the changes vital to face the current economic crisis. He noted that he needed “serious people for serious times.”

Mr Brown has also played down the reported divisions between himself and his new business secretary, and criticised the media for not focusing on what he thought were more pressing issues.

“It's incredible how big decisions about the economy are reduced to a question about one or two personalities,” he said.

Mr Brown went on to praise on his old rival, describing him as very experienced in trade and business issues and his appointment as being in the national interest.

The business secretary's return to mainstream British politics has not come without political criticism, too. Rumours that schools secretary Ed Balls attempted to block his appointment came as Labour backbencher Dr Ian Gibson claimed that Mandelson would be divisive within the party and that his appointment was unconstitutional as he is neither an MP or peer.

Mr Mandelson is expected to receive a life peerage so that he can take up his seat in the cabinet and will be entitled to a seat in the Lords.

First minister of the Scottish Parliament and leader of the Scottish Nationalist Party, Alex Salmond, has attacked the reshuffle and particularly the appointment of his Labour predecessor, Jack McConnell, to the special envoy to the UN on conflict resolution. The first minister highlighted the fact that Mr McConnell was due to leave his Scottish Parliamentary seat triggering a by-election he believes the Nationalists would have won.

Eddie Barnes in Scotland on Sunday echoed Salmond's criticism and noted that McConnell was slated to become the next British high commissioner to Malawi, a diplomatic post well-suited to Mr McConnell's conciliatory reputation. He voiced the belief that McConnell would take this intended post in 2011 after the next Scottish Parliamentary election.