A constitutional job for Mr Mandelson?

I ended last week's column by musing on the prospect of Angela Merkel and Segolene Royal occupying the two most influential leaderships in continental Europe. There are many who say that women bring a different, and softer, quality to government, though I have yet to see any evidence for

this myself.

Such thinking has always seemed particularly wishful. Indeed, all the evidence, from Cleopatra to Mrs Thatcher, points in a quite opposite direction. Nevertheless, I remain a suppo...