Peter Mandelson, notoriously pricklier than a rose-bush, would probably find this more irritating than humorous, but - interesting fact No 1 - the words Lean Modern Pest can be created using all the letters of his name.
Non-anagram-related, but no less interesting, fact No 2: if Mandelson replaces Mo Mowlam as Secretary for Northern Ireland, as has been speculated this week, he will be following in the footsteps of his grand father, the Labour MP, Herbert Morrison, who as home secretary was responsible for Northern Ireland when Costello declared the South a republic in 1948.
According to PR guru Max Clifford, "It is quite possible that the sleaziest government Britain has ever seen would still be in power" if not for the presence of Mandelson.
Clifford's approval may be something of a dubious accolade, but it acknowledges that Mandelson's biggest achievement to date has been making the Labour Party electable.
The public, the media and the political world may not, as Tony Blair once pleaded, have yet learnt to love Peter Mandelson, but his contribution to the political landscape cannot be denied.
In recent times he has kept a low profile, still apparently smarting from the scandal that led to his resignation as trade and industry secretary last December. He hadn't been long in the job when it was revealed that he accepted a loan of around £400,000 to help pay a mortgage on his four-storey London home from a fellow Labour MP, Geoffrey Robinson, whose offshore tax arrangements and links with Robert Maxwell were being investigated by his own department.
Fix that, smirked some of Mandelson's more entrenched enemies as the revelation forced him to resign.
Despite his previous role as minister without portfolio, Mandelson often generated more press coverage than the more high-profile ministers. Last September he was "outed" as a homosexual on national television, and his intense rivalry with his former friend, the Chancellor, Gordon Brown, has been the subject of much speculation.
The dispute goes back to 1994, when Mandelson backed Blair for the leadership of the party after John Smith's death. Brown was thought to be convinced that his friend, in what sounds like a thoroughly Mandelsonian ploy, had briefed the press against him by declaring: "It has to be Blair".
Mandelson grew up in the salubrious London neighbourhood of Hampstead Garden Suburb where neighbours included the former PM, Harold Wilson. He is said to have always been extremely bright, and when Mensa set about divining who was the cleverest British politician last year, he romped to first place without much competition.
"I always knew Peter would become successful," his mother told Punch magazine two years ago. "He knew what he wanted to do and he did. Everything went pretty well to plan, I think".
Much has been made of his apparent idolisation of his grandfather, and even apart from the Northern Ireland connection there are certain parallels in their career paths. Morrison was a pivotal figure in the Labour landslide of 1945 and helped organise the Festival of Britain (a precursor to Mandelson's planned Millennium Dome celebrations) in 1951.
Although he rarely encountered him growing up, Mandelson is said to have been conscious of emulating the political success of his grandfather as he masterminded the dramatic comeback of new look Labour.
He paid his first Labour sub at 15 and studied at Oxford, leaving in 1976 with a second in politics. One of his first jobs was on the Trade Union Council, moving on to television production with Weekend World, where he made a number of programmes on Northern Ireland. He was appointed Labour's communications director in 1985 and was elected as an MP for Hartlepool in 1992.
The British public at large got their first glimpse of Peter Mandelson courtesy of Spitting Image. In the satirical puppet show he was depicted as a hissing serpent, entwined around Tony Blair, whispering sweet Machiavellian nothings into his ear. By 1996 he was busy reinventing the red (new) Labour rose and wrote a book The Blair Revolution setting out the party's stall.
Despite his self-enforced banishment to the back benches, his relationship with Tony Blair has always appeared brotherly in its closeness, but resembling a solid marriage in its emotional depth. Blair is said to feel lost without him at the cabinet table, missing their almost telepathic bond.
A letter to Blair which he wrote following a damaging internal row reflects the nature of their friendship: "There is no question of me ceasing to act as your friend and adviser. I am always thinking of you, I will do anything you ask of me. You are the most important thing to have happened for our party and our country. But we cannot go on like this," he wrote.
He is hated and feared in equal measure around Westminster. One observer of the British political scene described Mandelson as "an absolute shit" with an almost Jekyll-and-Hyde personality. "He is one of the most unpleasant, charming, cold, warm, friendly, austere people you could meet. An oddity," he concluded.
Journalists or even fellow MPs who bump into him in the corridors of Westminster are never sure how Mandelson will greet them, if at all, from one meeting to the next. No one knows what factors lead him to (literally) turn up his nose at them one day and turn on the charm another. He has friends in high places and was one of few politicians invited to Camilla Parker Bowles's birthday bash for Prince Charles.
It is all part of the legend, spun around him over the past decade by media that are at once appalled and terrified by the power and influence held by the man they call the Prince of Darkness. Stories of him berating editors of national newspapers and succeeding in proof-reading articles before their publication are legion.
But the legend gains credence in the writings of Mandelson himself who in February 1995 sent a letter to Blair about his plan to get away from his Sultan of Spin image and carve a path towards respectable politics.
It was reproduced in the book Being Peter, a reference to Blair's remark that Mandelson's job as minister without portfolio was simply to "carry on being Peter". (By Mandelson's own account the job involved "looking around corners and putting out fires".)
"I am less use to you as a result of the fear of me," he wrote. "My strange, menacing power, my media manipulation, my awesome ability to triumph over and rubbish those who get in the way of our project. I have got to do something about this situation before it does me and you further harm."
He goes on to list a number of ways he will do this, including making it a "top priority" to make no more enemies. "Charm, approachability, finding ways I can use my skills to help people are all essential. And remember the Blair maxim: kill your enemies with cream."
The politicking, backstabbing, awesomely devious and manipulative Mandelson may have to go back into the Prince of Darkness's coffin-shaped box if the Belfast job becomes his. Coping with David Trimble (who is said to be favourable towards Mandelson as Northern Ireland secretary) et al would call on all of Mandy's reserves of charm and approachability. And cream.