Morning:
8°c
Forget Gordon Brown, if you can bear that thought for a moment.
One man is really in charge of this teetering wreck of a government and now responsible for its fate: Peter Mandelson rises (again).
He is our very own Putin to Mr Brown's struggling Medvedev.
Theoretically, Mr Medvedev runs the Kremlin, but he's there by dint of a raised thumb from Mr Putin, and so it is with Her Majesty's Government.
It was Lord Mandelson who stopped yet more Cabinet ministers jumping overboard last week.
He has, I'm told, been holding reassuring conversations with those like Tessa Jowell, whose return to full Cabinet status he advocated in return for energetic loyalty after Mr Brown's little difficulty with ministerial women.
Crucially, he worked out with Mr Brown that the best way to the Parliamentary Labour Party's heart, was through Lord Kinnock, whose rallying cry helped secure the PM's survival.
The intense sentimentality of the Labour Party cannot be overestimated. It is why MPs applauded and banged on desks on Monday night in a state of deluded reassurance, as the man at bay delivered another of his “I will try harder” messages.
Humility is the politician's weapon of last resort. It was also the theme of his last conference speech after an inconclusive summer of discontent.
Rarely has a party colluded quite so enthusiastically in its own demise.
Mr Mandelson returned from lucrative Brussels exile, his friends say, “to save Gordon”, and that's pretty much the way it's worked out.
Whether he should have done is another matter. The Mr Mandelson of yore had a fearsome brutality, which made him such a useful, if feared, member of the Blair political family.
Today, he is guided by a mixture of fear of chaos engulfing his party and his own sentiment in remaining loyal to a leader we know (since we've seen his very accurate emails about Mr Brown's flaws written not so long ago), he has long regarded as a bit of a basket case.
But the desire to complete the story of the Blair-Brown-Mandelson love triangle means he's there to the bitter end.
Certainly, it was a masterstroke on the part of Mr Brown to recall to his team the man who had wounded him deeply by backing his rival for the leadership in Chapter 1 of the great New Labour saga.
It showed that the Brownites were prepared to forgive and forget, so long as they were in charge.
And it gave Mr Brown what his inner circle sorely lacked: a strategically sophisticated adviser, though it has to be said, the results to date have not been convincing.
The old strains do remain. One of the reasons a skirmish broke out over Lord Mandelson advising the PM to keep Alistair Darling as Chancellor and not finally promote Ed Balls, is that Mr Balls represented the Old Believers, loyal to Mr Brown since the days before 1997, whereas Lord Mandelson was a long-standing critic of Mr Brown throughout the Blair reign.
Mr Balls has some grounds to feel hard done by — his one chance to shine in the role he has aspired to was snatched away by the weakness of his master on the eve of the reshuffle.
Both men are intelligent enough to know that there can be no more schisms around the Prime Minister in this fragmented final period of Labour rule, so this is one of those reconciliations which wears well.
“Lots of giggling and pointing at notes and a sort of virtual flirting,” as one colleague puts it — until some external strain is put on it, at which point, distrust rears its head.
Now everyone has to stagger on together. Unity is the theme which ultimately persuaded doubters in the party to draw back from a mercy-killing and which is glueing together a Cabinet still in trauma.
The promotion of the Business Secretary to First Secretary, which sounds like something from the days of Lord Mandelson's Communist Youth League, solidifies his role as repository of most hopes and fears.
Everyone's a friend of Peter now. “Leave it to me,” is his knowing line to colleagues wishing to convey doubts or recommendations. “I did,” says one of the resigners a touch mournfully. “Nothing happened!”
Lord Mandelson also adjusted the strategy of Mr Brown's fightback to focus on the “mayhem” a new leader or election would allegedly produce, and away from painful probing of Mr Brown's performance.
He is still sharper than a drawerful of worshipful acolytes, moving the argument from the demerits of Gordon to the need to avoid upheaval and strife played his audience consummately.
One catch: the stasis in government runs counter to what Lord Mandelson really believes a modern political party needs to do.
His instincts have been towards the preservation and extension of New Labour leading the way on reforms, not spatchcocking them, as Mr Brown tends to do.
He may also have to cede ground on Royal Mail privatisation — which the Chief Whip Nick Brown has hinted may be watered down, in order to appease backbench opinion.
Neither does he have his protégé James Purnell, a key advocate of public service changes, at Education, as originally intended, to shake up the department which under Mr Balls is not competing with the Conservatives for control of the reforming agenda in schools.
Just now and then, Lord Mandelson, for all his skills and verbal dexterity, must ask himself what it is he is defending. It's New Labour, Jim, but not as we know it.
Accident-prone in two of his Cabinet jobs, he has it (nearly ) all third time around, with primus inter pares status.
The man Labour loved to loathe comes close to fulfilling the prediction of his old boss: “I will know the Labour Party has changed when it learns to love Peter Mandelson,” Mr Blair predicted.
It has taken the near death of Gordon to make that happen. “You sometimes forget to hate him these days” is the brusque appreciation of one of his oldest foes.
That's some achievement for the Prince of Darkness. But he also carries another responsibility in the annals of his party: as the man who rescued Gordon. For better, or worse.
Reader views (8)
I think GB needs to listen to the people but he has done more than most & I think he really does care about the country & does not like to brag about it because he thinks it is his job to do things without needing to go on about it. I think people are missing this as lack of information. All the parties & their MPs have milked the Expenses poor process so please don't think one is cleaner or better than the other. He has provided more money to the NHS but the method of measurement was inappropriate & introduced by Blair so don't blame Gordon for the past mistakes, except for not saving for such downturn. Other than that, I do not think the Tories or the Lib Dems will do much more to make our life that much better sadly. Those who voted for the BNP are the most unintelligent humans who cannot think outside their little box & sadly - I hope they see the error of their ways. Britain is great because of its diversity & it has got a lot of its riches from other countries, namely Africa & India so before they start going on about being British, they would be nothing without these & other countries! So let's hope Gordon learns the PR skills to communicate what he has done.
Thank you.
- Sienna, London, 11/06/2009 15:40
Report abuse
When NuLabour falls, as it surely will, it will be sad that Gordon Brown will not be able to look back and remember some great achievement for the good of the people he is supposed to be leading. He will be remembered as the man who tore down the very fabric of Britain. When the recession and the sleeze being revealed about MPs is almost forgoton, two things will subconciously be remembered about Brown's time in office... he is the man who allowed our Queen to be side lined by the French at the D Day celebrations, and he foisted that untrustworthy and sly Mandelson on us, unasked, unwanted and unelected. Brown will not leave office covered in glory, he will be buried under his own "brown" pile.
- Joan, London UK, 11/06/2009 09:08
Report abuse
It speaks volumes about the putrid state of politics in this country. A government devoid of purpose and dependent on a majority from a discredited Parliament, is orchestrated by a man who has twice previously left the Cabinet in disgrace before serving a lucrative exile in Brussels.
Is it any wonder that some voters embrace the despicable BNP?
- John C, Leatherhead, UK, 11/06/2009 08:54
Report abuse
This people are defending their jobs and their egos,not principles. Ask not waht you can do for the public, ask what the public can do for you. Whether Cameron and Co would be any better is unfortunately not at all obvious. Which is why most people did not vote last week.
- Mikes, London, 11/06/2009 08:46
Report abuse
"Keep tour friends close, but your enemies closer"
- Anthony, London Borough of Waltham Forest., 10/06/2009 22:59
Report abuse
My Liege Lord Peter, Lord Mandelson of Foy and Hartlepool is the 'True and Secret Dear Leader' of the Labour Party. He is the one who is pulling Pa Broone's strings.
"Gottle o gear, gread and gutter anyone...!"
- Uncle Vanya, East Anglia Area UK, 10/06/2009 16:49
Report abuse
Mandelson is the power behind the throne - or in Brown's case, the power behind the throw-up.
- Judith C, London, England, 10/06/2009 10:51
Report abuse
mandleson is a slimeball who should be thrown out, how brown can think he will do any good with him and these other so called "lords" in his team, is beyond me, they are all tainted, and if brown really wants to give the people what we want, then call a general election and be shown how we really feel, oops he knows he will be thrown out so wont do the honourable thing, but please just GO
- Mike_Somerset, bridgwater, somerset, england, 10/06/2009 10:28
Report abuse
