IT is difficult to imagine a Cabinet appointment more calculated to dismay or outrage Labour supporters than that of Peter Mandelson.

The mere fact that serial embarrassment David Blunkett describes it as a “masterstroke” says all that’s necessary of this third time unlucky triumph of hope over experience.

Mr Blunkett’s bases his assessment of the rehabilitation of the architect of spin and rumour on the joyous reality that “it is embracing someone who, in the past, had been seen as being very close to Tony Blair, so it’s an inclusive measure.”

Well, three cheers for that. The tiny, unrepresentative and increasingly loathed group that is new Labour is papering over the cracks in its unity.

At the same time, trade unionists, pensioners, peace campaigners, the homeless, low-paid workers and people facing unpayable energy bills will conclude that new Labour has even less to offer them.

Those denied the chance of buying a home or facing negative equity and repossession will remember Mr Mandelson’s own alternative mortgage arrangements – his secret large loan, interest free, from a Cabinet colleague.

That should have been that for his political career, but the patronage of Tony Blair meant his speedy return to Cabinet and, after another embarrassment, reincarnation as EU trade commissioner.

What does Gordon Brown expect Mr Mandelson to bring to his government?

Is he unaware of the overwhelming negative image that Mr Mandelson projects? He is seen as vain, duplicitous, divisive, self-seeking and unscrupulous and that’s by those willing to give him the benefit of the doubt.

His return will recall the days when he briefed journalists on a regular basis against fellow ministers, including Mr Brown, while Mr Brown’s adviser Charlie Whelan responded in kind.

Is that the model of government that the PM would like to see return or does he believe that the crab has changed his spots?

When Mr Brown took over from Mr Blair last year, he briefly flattered to deceive, promising the catch-all quality of “change” and, more positively, an end to spin.

Change has been consigned to the dustbin and no-one could take seriously any pledge by a government that contains Mr Mandelson to finish with spin.

Indeed, the proof is there in his interview in this weekend’s New Statesman when he claims not to have given “a second’s thought” to a return to front-line politics after he discussed it with Mr Brown at Labour Party conference.

Tony Blair once said that his project of remaking the Labour Party would only be complete when the party had learned to love Peter Mandelson.

If he meant the 700,000 members that Labour boasted in 1997, that never happened and even today’s flimsy, abandoned shell of a party is deeply divided.

Despite that, Mr Mandelson is as bullish as ever, telling trade union leaders and those on the left of the party who want an end to the new Labour nightmare that they “prefer the comfort of opposition to the hard tasks of government.”

This appointment confirms new Labour’s determination to continue to reject the demands of working people and to rule in the interests of big business and the rich.