Party animal

The most popular and controversial person at the British Labour Party conference in Brighton this week turned up at the big, buzzy party thrown by Irish Ambassador, Ted Barrington, at the Grand Hotel on Tuesday night. It wasn't the Prime Minister, Tony Blair, but former Northern secretary, Mo Mowlam. Her replacement, Peter Mandelson, also went. Both had separately slipped away from a huge, cabinet-hosted, corporate fundraising dinner to join the Irish. Only hours earlier, Mo, referring to her "I'm just the tea lady" remark to President Bill Clinton, told a fringe meeting: "I used to do weird things. Yes, I used to make tea when working late at night on the Good Friday Agreement. I used to wander around with chips and get Chinese takeaways. Making tea for Clinton was just to take the piss out of him".