Jaguar Land Rover

Having failed in its initial bid to gain support from the British government via Peter Mandelson, TATA is now playing hard-ball with the UK's Labour Party in its bid to get its purchase of Jaguar Land Rover underwritten by the UK taxpayer. It's getting dangerously close to a foreign company playing power broker in UK politics.

Is there a pattern? Peter Mandelson's links to Indian businessmen were one of the reasons for at least one of his disgraces. Now, within weeks of his return from exile in Europe, he is once again "considering" assisting an Indian business.

It is expected that Ford, which had already said that Tata of India was its preferred bidder, will shortly announce that Jaguar and Range Rover will be sold to TATA for USD2 milliard.

Ford sold Aston Martin to an investment company and then put Jaguar and Range Rover up to sale, recently declaring TATA of India to be the preferred bidder. It's yet another faux pas in the recent history where, so far as the company's accounts are concerned, it's any colour you want so long as it's red.