The Spectator's Notes

Charles Moore

Wednesday, 10th June 2009

Charles Moore's reflections on the week

Labour got 15 per cent of the vote in the European elections, in which only 34 per cent of the electorate voted. That is roughly five per cent of those entitled to vote. When you add those too young to vote, this means that, on average, only one in every 25 people you pass in the street voted Labour last week. So when Mr Brown emerged triumphant from the meeting of his parliamentary party on Monday, his slogan was really ‘The Audacity of Hopelessness’.

When people bemoan (or applaud) the decline of the British Establishment, they reckon without Lord Mandelson of Foy and Hartlepool. He presents himself as the only remaining part of the British constitution which is both dignified and efficient. By wielding all but supreme power from the House of Lords, he has reasserted the Establishment over democracy. He holds the fate of the Prime Minister in his hands. Never since Lord Salisbury asked, in 1957, ‘Which is it to be, Wab or Hawold?’, has a peer had such a pivotal position. I wish Peter would sacrifice his personal preferences and perpetuate the political dynasty of which (his grandfather was Herbert Morrison) he is a part. With his genes, it would be as long-lasting as the Cecils. Lord Mandelson’s only disappointment during recent events has been that he did not become Foreign Secretary, but the compensation he chose for himself showed his Establishment sense of history. He has become ‘First Secretary of State’, a title without any meaning whatsoever, first devised by Harold Macmillan for Rab, after his dramatic and painful reshuffle, ‘The Night of the Long Knives’, in 1962. If everything goes wrong, Master of Trinity?

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