Is Mandelson an ideological Blairite?
James Forsyth 11:05am
Peter Mandelson is regarded as the ultimate Blairite. And certainly in terms of personal loyalty few match up to him. Despite Blair sacking him twice, Mandelson was still his most articulate defender in the various TV retrospectives on the Blair era. Mandelson even called Blair before accepting Gordon Brown’s offer of a seat in the Lords and a return to the cabinet.
But John Rentoul in his Independent on Sunday column made the crucial point that “Mandelson is not a political philosopher; he is an operator.” The same instincts that led Mandelson to move Labour to the centre on economics now seem to be persuading him to move Labour to the left on the economy. (Although, it is worth noting how welfare reform, immigration and bashing the human rights acts have all been used this week to try and stop the Labour is lurching to the left narrative from gaining momentum). As Rentoul—who as Blair’s biographer is an authority on who is and isn’t a proper Blairite—waspishly observes, Mandelson has “abolished the divide between Old and New Labour by defining New Labour as Old Labour.”
There are a couple of reasons why one might see some ideological light between Mandelson and late-stage Blair, who was—judging by his belief in the power of markets and the benefits of competition—slightly to the right of centre. Mandelson was in Brussels, where the political culture is to the left of Westminster, just when Blair became most convinced of the need for radical public service reform, something he couldn’t do because of the political realities within the Labour party. But perhaps most importantly: Mandelson is tribal Labour, Blair is not.
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Daniel
December 11th, 2008 11:50am Report this commentIdeologically, there is very little to choose between Blair and Mandelson. Faith in the power of unfettered free markets has been totally discredited, so if Blair were still PM, confronted by the credit crisis, it is doubtful if his approach would be any different from Brown's.
The key point, however, is that Mandelson has correctly identified the Conservative Party's achilles heel, which is that Cameron's modernisation project has been less thorough going than that of the Labour Party in the 1990s. After the end of the Cold War, Blair and Brown realised that state socialism was dead and that the centre left had to forge a genuine alternative. Whilst it's highly debatable whether Labour activists ever really accepted the "third way", the Labour front bench team certainly did. It's much less clear whether the Conservatives have genuinely accepted the limits of the free market; at the very least, there is a lack of concrete evidence of an ideological sea-change on this point. The problem, it seems to me, is that Cameron based his entire modernisation project on the premise that social issues had replaced economic ones as the battleground on which the next general election would be fought. The global downturn has unravelled this strategy, and the Tories are now left fluttering around like butterflies in seach of an alternative economic policy that will differentiate them from the Government. The line of least resistance is simply to revert to old-style Thatcherism, which then allows Labour to run the "same old Tories" line of attack.
Aless Bieri
December 11th, 2008 12:05pm Report this commentI don't think Mandelson's a Blairite, I think Blair was Mandelson's most obedient servent.
catesby
December 11th, 2008 12:16pm Report this commentFaith in the power of unfettered free markets has been totally discredited
What does this mean exactly?
Have we ever had an 'unfettered' market in anything other than derivatives? What are the SEC, the FSA etc. for if not for applying the occasional fetter?
You'd probably be right to say that investment bankers have been thoroughly discredited, but that's not at all the same as saying markets, capitalism etc have been discredited.
For all his guff about saving the world, even Brown admits that, in the end, it's going to be business that digs us out of the hole.
TrevorsDen
December 11th, 2008 12:22pm Report this commentDaniel - a complete load of Horlicks.
Conservative 'reforms' never had as far to go as labours anyway.
British society IS broken and a financial crisis does not change that.
Conservatives DO have policies you are just deaf, blind but unfortunately not dumb.
Proof of this latter point is the complete non answer Brown gave to Cameron's proposals to help small businesses (the UK's biggest employers). So empty headed was Brown to this subject that he was flustered into his Freudian 'If I ruled the world .... ' gaffe.
Just read Hansard on the exchanges, in the cold light of day, and see Browns total moral and economic bankruptcy laid bare.
Mandelson is many things but 'operator' is not the euphemism I would have chosen.
strapworld
December 11th, 2008 1:13pm Report this commentDaniel, can you name the Conservative Party's Clause 4?
Please do not mention the EU as Labour is as divided themselves as the Conservatives.
TrevorsDen, not for the first time, is right. It is unfortunate that at this time the Conservatives find themselves with a lightweight as leader.
I just wish he would take some vocal lessons and lower his voice and talk 'rougher'. He sounds so boyish and at a time when we need aggression and some real 'rough stuff'
Did Cameron ever get his hands dirty? I mean dirt under his fingernails?
Rob Atkins
December 11th, 2008 1:39pm Report this commentNo - he's not an ideological Blairite, he's a grasping opportunist who will say and do anything to get and hold on to power ... He's also the best argument I know for an elected House of Lords.
Verity
December 11th, 2008 2:25pm Report this commentStrapworld - Yes, he should lower his voice and for God's sake get some character in his face. He looks about 17.
mac
December 11th, 2008 6:44pm Report this commentWhat Rob Atkins said.
Ian C
December 11th, 2008 7:24pm Report this commentThere, as we all know, is no such thing as "ideological Blairite" It is a tortology in the extreme. The only ideological thought that Blair/Mandelson ever had was "power how do we get/keep it?".
So no he is playing the games he knows in order to keep it. He does not have such an able or fast thinking puppet whose strings he is pulling this time and the screen that he hides behind while he does so is transparent and becoming more so.
John M
December 12th, 2008 11:20am Report this comment"Mandelson was in Brussels, where the political culture is to the left of Westminster"
I know this is taken as gospel over here, but based on the dealings I've had with the Commission, you won't find a more thatchertie bunch (certainly pre-credit crunch). Remember their principle objective is strengthening the single market, which is about increasing competition and stamping out state aid. Gratned, the EP is a different matter.
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