Big beasts Peter Mandelson and Ken Clarke get the claws out

If the British economy were really facing a Greek or Icelandic meltdown Peter Mandelson and Ken Clarke could sit down over a quiet drink and sort out a recovery plan in 30 minutes. In the process Ken would devour a couple of pints and three cigars while Peter would sip a white wine spritzer through a straw. But it isn't. So they didn't. There's an election coming. At yesterday's lunchtime gladiatorial session, organised by the British Chamber of Commerce (BCC), they squared off in a manly fashion as if they both fear and dislike each other – which clearly they don't, which is probably why their parties have never loved them. Yesterday's audience did. And why not? Few indeed are the head-on collisions between senior politicians in which one does not enjoy a near-effortless advantage over the other. Cameron bullies Brown. Darling stonewalls everyone. But Ken'n'Pete are the real thing, a rumble in the jungle which could go either way after 15 rounds. So when the 69-year-old former chancellor patronised the business secretary, 13 chronological and as many ministerial years his junior, the business secretary patronised him back – with interest. "You do have a lot of experience in government, Ken, which is why a greater obligation is placed on you – unlike your colleagues who do not have that experience – to be more honest." Miaow. If Clarke is a dog, a lovable St Bernard with a brandy barrel round his neck, Mandelson is a cat, a Siamese with manicured claws. The BBC's Jon Sopel was there to keep the pets apart but they each bridled in their own way. Clarke slumped Clarke-like in his chair, Mandelson sitting almost immobile and bolt upright, they toughed it out. Mandelson's line was that the Tories had messed up industrial policy in the 1980s and 1990s. Clarke's pitch was, well, much the same really except he did it with more bluster and wild right hooks. When he repeatedly threatened to cut deeper and faster than the Brown-Darling coalition intends, Mandelson pounced on his admission. "I didn't say that." "Yes, you did." "I didn't." "What did you say?" "By freezing public sector incomes …" "We've already done that …" "No you haven't." "Unlike you, Peter, I have a past I can trade on." "At least I can claim I was an architect of a changed political party, unlike you." Polling day will decide which of them is right.