Judging by character, we are unlikely to ascertain the pragmatic Peter Mandelson's real views on Ireland, but it is remarked by both sides that his grandfather, Labour's Herbert Morrison, home secretary in Winston Churchill's inter-party wartime cabinet, radiated a distinctly orange hue.
Arthur Quinlan, veteran Limerick correspondent, remembers Morrison's stopover here after the second World War. The British foreign secretary arrived at Foynes by flying boat from the Bermuda Conference and was escorted indoors by the airport manager, Col Patrick Maher. "What language is that?" he asked pointing to a sign in Irish. Eirse said his British civil servants. Oh yes, said Morrison, Arse. His entourage tittered at his great wit. The colonel was extremely angry but had to grin and bear it.
In August 1946, Morrison, surprisingly, returned on holiday. The Daily Telegraph asked Quinlan to get a photo of the minister with a Shannon sign to prove he was definitely there. Quinlan obliged and dispatched the said pic. It wasn't used, but came in handy subsequently. Asked by an opponent in the House of Commons what he was doing in neutral Eire with a British state car, Morrison denied he was here at all. The photo was produced as proof.