Peter Mandelson joined numerous Cabinet ministers at the wedding of a Labour minister at the weekend.

The crypt of St Stephen’s Chapel hosted the wedding of John Hutton, the health minister, and Heather Rogers, an aide to John Reid.

David Blunkett said yesterday that after the service he had congratulated Mandelson on getting his new European Commission post.

"I'm smiling now because I saw Peter at the wedding of John Hutton," the home secretary told Breakfast with Frost.

"I told him that I knew that [he was] coming back the moment [that he] did that interview with Alastair Campbell," he said.

Mandelson is expected to fly to Portugal to meet new Commission president Jose Barroso this week.