Peter Mandelson is gay ( he was outed in 1998 by Matthew Parris ) , which led some to claim the UK was being run by a gay mafia . In October 1998 , during his first period in the Cabinet , Mandelson was the center of media attention when Matthew Parris ( openly gay former MP and then Parliamentary sketch writer of The Times ) mentioned during a live interview on Newsnight , in the wake of the resignation of Ron Davies , that `` Peter Mandelson is certainly gay '' .