Examination of Witness (Questions 60 -
79)
TUESDAY 18 MAY 1999
MR PETER
MANDELSON
Mr Bottomley
60. You see the building society manager
on Friday 30 August 1996, is that right? It was a Friday?
(Mr Mandelson) The 30th, yes.
61. Thursday or Friday?
(Mr Mandelson) I do not remember whether it was
Thursday or Friday, I am afraid. It was whatever the date that
I signed on.
62. It was actually signed on the day that
the date is there?
(Mr Mandelson) I see what you mean. Yes.
63. Which was a Friday?
(Mr Mandelson) Yes.
64. The house was costing £465 or £475,000.
The difference does not matter. I am just trying to get the picture.
(Mr Mandelson) They had accepted my offer of 465.
65. Was that what you actually paid for
it?
(Mr Mandelson) Yes.
66. For this 465 you were having a mortgage
of 150?
(Mr Mandelson) Yes.
67. Which is what the value— That
was the sum on the mortgage application which was approved and
paid? I am leaving aside the odd 1,000 for expenses maybe, and
you had a loan of £373,000 from Geoffrey Robinson, is that
right?
(Mr Mandelson) Yes.
68. So that gives us £523,000. Have
I got my calculations right?
(Mr Mandelson) Yes.
69. Which is about £60,000, say £55,000,
more than the cost of buying the house?
(Mr Mandelson) Yes.
70. When Wilmington Square was sold, we
understood it to be worth around £170,000? I do not think
we know what it was sold for.
(Mr Mandelson) I am afraid I cannot remember either.
71. Let us say having paid back the mortgage
of £40,000, it produced about £130,000?
(Mr Mandelson) Right.
72. I am putting this interrogatively.
(Mr Mandelson) I accept what you say.
73. Anyway, it seems from the papers in
front of us this appears to be what happened, and there was a
mortgage of about £35,000 on Hutton?
(Mr Mandelson) Yes.
74. Which was paid back when Wilmington
Square was sold?
(Mr Mandelson) Yes.
75. So if Wilmington Square had produced,
say, a surplus of about £120-130,000, having paid back the
Hutton mortgage there was about £90,000 spare?
(Mr Mandelson) Right. I would be surprised if
it was quite as much as that, but possibly less.
76. Let us say £80,000. There are costs
of doing all this kind of thing?
(Mr Mandelson) Yes.
77. Did you use anything like £80,000
to repay Geoffrey Robinson at all?
(Mr Mandelson) No, I paid him back £40,000
because the remainder of the money I used on Northumberland.
78. Just give us a rough picture. Like Dale,
I am not happy about going into other people's personal details
or family life or your mother or other things.
(Mr Mandelson) I do not mind.
79. Roughly how much did you spend on Northumberland?
(Mr Mandelson) About £40-50,000.
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