With Lord Mandelson, who knows what to believe?
Posted on July 7, 2010The press, the airwaves and the Westminster gossip mill are a bit like the Premiership, the FA Cup and the Champions League – it’s an impressive feat to hold all three at the same time. Normally one will run ahead or lag behind the others in the current hot topic.
It takes a big star – or a big scandal – to hold the Treble, and they don’t come much bigger at the moment than Lord Mandelson (take your pick of whether he’s a star or a scandal). His memoirs are occupying enough newspaper space for Wayne Rooney to write out his full bank balance in crayon, and the chatter is only going to grow as the serialisation and publicity campaign rolls on.
The revelations in ‘The Third Man’ seem fairly interesting, giving us more insight into the backstabbing, infighting and conspiracy that ate at the heart of New Labour.
In so doing, the good Lord has only really coloured in more of the general picture that we all knew existed. Everyone knows that Blair and Brown didn’t get along, though it’s nice to get an actual Blair quote about Brown being “mad, bad and beyond redemption”. Everyone knows that Mandelson is an arch-schemer, though it’s good to get an insight into how he went about it.
Most importantly, of course, we all know that many Ministers were lying through their teeth on a regular basis. I’m not going to pretend that this is something that only applies to the recent Labour Government – it would be absurd to do so – but it’s generally acknowledged that New Labour, under the guidance of Messrs Mandelson and Campbell, took it to a new level of accomplishment.
That raises an important question about “The Third Man” as a memoir. Given that its author was the architect of a new type of politics characterised by the telling of untruths in what they saw as a greater cause, can we actually believe any of it?
People often portray New Labour as a cheap con trick, but it was far more intelligent – if not much more honest – than that (see Peter Oborne’s excellent “The Rise of Political Lying” for more). In their early days in particular, they really were setting out to redefine language in order to win political power.
In doing so, they completely severed the already weak links of trust between the political class and the public. Indeed, they lost the ability to trust each other, with Brown telling Blair “There is nothing that you could ever say to me now that I could possibly believe”. (Ironically, that was probably the moment that Gordon Brown had the most in common with ordinary British voters).
It is fitting that the New Labour era is being brought to an end by a whole book which we don’t really know if we can believe or not. It is equally appropriate that a book which is effectively Peter Mandelson’s longest ever press release is occupying central stage – irrespective of whether it is true or false. Just like the old days, he’s achieved his aim – and whether he told the truth to get there is by the by.
Tags: Blair, Books, Brown, Lies, Mandelson, New Labour, Politics, The Third Man, Truth, Westminster
Categories: Books, Politics, Westminster
Hi Wallace – Best wishes on the new blog! As for Mandy – his aim is never true.
16.07.2010 09:15
[...] This post was mentioned on Twitter by Mark Wallace, alfie bengal. alfie bengal said: RT @wallaceme: New post: Mandy's Memoirs – High profile but are they true? http://bit.ly/bqC9Zw [...]
16.07.2010 10:14
Fantastic blog and Mandy story is excellent!
16.07.2010 11:36
This is a very profesional looking blog, very impresive – I look forward to your unique insights into the westminster village.
16.07.2010 13:47
Good luck on your new site. I am sure I will be back with plenty of comments in the near future.
16.07.2010 14:57
Best wishes with this new venture of yours – will follow with interest.
16.07.2010 15:10
A blow for the TPA, but like Witterings, I shall be following your shiny new blog!
The Rise of Political Lying is an excellent read and I hope Oborne writes a sequel.
16.07.2010 20:02
Looks like its going to be a good blog. Somewhere to go when ‘Guy Fawkes’ gets a bit slow !
17.07.2010 12:28
You probably don’t want advice at this stage, but mine would be to make your posts considerably pithier — say about 45% of its actual length for that one. And a question: does this blog have an RSS feed, or some such?
17.07.2010 13:04
Hi, good article, will follow your blog. Don’t much care for white type on black background. Just sayin’ is all….
17.07.2010 13:55
I agree about colour, white text on black background doesn’t do it for me, also size 12 font
17.07.2010 18:38
Hi,
You write ‘…it’s nice to get an actual Blair quote about Brown being “mad, bad and beyond redemption”…’
…Problem is that quote sounds TOTALLY made up! Who would come out with that sentence? Sounds like Mandy doing his Mills & Boons bit. to me.
Maybe Blair’s book will give us a direct quote.
Heh.
17.07.2010 14:01
Like the cut of your jib. Good luck. I’m stuck with white on black too…lol…
17.07.2010 15:28
Nice to see another political blog, but the ad industry did establish ages ago that reverse white-on-black is harder to read.
17.07.2010 15:58
A welcome site. Have printed the Mandy item and now using it as blogpaper.
17.07.2010 16:50
Wonderful blog-piece of the “wish I’d swritten that” variety. if you maintain the standard of the first few blogs. you’ll be a worthy replacement for the late lamented LFAT.
17.07.2010 16:56