Is Mandelson the new Heseltine ?

In the dying months of the last Tory government, when all was doom and gloom for the Tories, when everyone knew they were going to lose the 1997 election heavily, there was one Tory who was unbowed, still took the fight to Labour and despite the polls saying otherwise, was telling the press he was predicting a Tory majority of 20 seats. In many ways Michael Heseltine was like the German propaganda ministry in April 1945 or Comical Ali in Iraq in 2003, talking a good war, making much of tiny successes whilst ignoring the obvious. It seemed slightly ludicrous at the time, but must have been offering some reassurance to Tories in those dark days. It appears Peter Mandelson has taken on this role with gusto for the Labour Party.

Peter Mandelson has nothing to lose of course. he has no parliamentary seat and has no reputation to lose with the press. By offering such a resolute defence of Labour even when they are in the wrong, he does not woo voters or the media, but he gives Labour activists some hope, he wins lots of kudos within Labour ranks and can then hope to play a leading role in reshaping the Labour Party after the next general election, and this is perhaps the most significant thing. Whereas Heseltine was coming to the end of his career in politics, Peter Mandelson is not yet at that stage and having been heavily involved in the creation of New Labour, he might be one of the few positives the Labour Party might have after the next general election. A man with a vision.

There are other interesting parallels between these two political characters. Both have stood on the periphery after holding ministerial office whilst they also share a love hate relationship between themselves and their parties. Mandelson is blamed by some on the left of betraying the socialist principles of Labour. Heseltine, in contrast, is still loathed by some Tories for having the guts to stand against Thatcher.

In the meantime we can expect another nine months of Mandelson defending the indefensible. Whilst it might look and sound ridiculous for him to do so, remember that with each utterance his position becomes stronger with the Labour Party.

Mandelson spinning again

While Peter Mandelson follows the rigidly of defending Gordon Brown in the wake of the Norwich North by-election, the problem is that Labour just don't get what is is that Norwich North tells us.

Labour's line is that due to the circumstances in which Ian Gibson stood down, this election was all about expenses, and was a special circumstance unrelated to normal politics. What Labour fail to recognise this that this is a self inflicted wound, and these self inflicted wounds are the sign of a government that is not only unable to control events outside of its control, but those it can control are done wrongly, in this case effectively sacking Ian Gibson whilst doing nothing about the likes of Hoon, Blears and others.

I seem to recall the last Tory government going through a similar episode of self harm over things like "back to basics" and the sleaze that was endemic in the period from 1992-97.

Whilst it might seem like a good defence for Gordon Brown to claim Norwich North was different, the electorate know otherwise and this makes Labour seems even more out of touch.

So spectacularly wrong on so many levels

Peter Mandelson took it upon himself today to give a lecture to the few remaining car companies producing automobiles in this country today, advising them to make the right decisions to ensure their futures. I am sure the car industry could barely control their excitement at getting advice from the UK government.

What is clear so far is that the UK government have got it so wrong when it comes to supporting industry in this country during the depression and sadly seems so completely unable to recognise successes in other countries. In the case of the car industry, Britain should be taking a lesson from the Germans.

Our Labour government are handing out the prospect of large sums of money to support car companies and stop them laying off workers, although no payments have yet been made by the UK government. This means the depression is deepening, the prospects for these manufacturers is getting worse, and so we have a catch 22 situation which the money from the UK government will do little to put right. The UK is expecting 500,000 less new car sales this year. That is the state of the hole we are in.

Compare this to Germany where the government is subsiding people who want to sell old inefficient cars and buy new cars to the tine of 3000 Euros (£2500). This means that in Germany this year they are expecting to sell 200,000 more new cars this year than last year.

So perhaps Peter Mandelson should shut up and listen rather than giving lectures.

Update : Iain Dal e-mailed me very late last night to tell me that I had spelt "shut" with an "i". A Freudian slip from me ?

Lock her up

I am pleased the Metropolitan Police, so quick in the past to shoot innocent people on the London underground, have finally got their fingers out of their back sides and arrested the protester who threw green custard at Peter Mandelson on Friday.

Whether you like Peter Mandelson or not, and I fall in to the "not" category, he is a minster, he ought to have had proper protection from any potential terrorist threat (especially as he was Northern Ireland Minister), and as a human being, he has the right to walk along our streets free from harassment and physical assault.

I tend to agree with what Peter Mandelson said on the Andrew Marr program this morning when he questioned why it was that some broadcasters (and the BBC were very much to blame in this case) seemed overly keen to offer the protester the oxygen of publicity, seemingly rewarding her illegal behaviour with the reward of an instant interview and a chance to pedal her politics live on air.

The way she was pandered to by Nicky Campbell on Radio Five Live with a total failure to question her methods, allowing her to claim she was standing up for democracy, and a lack of tackling her on her claims that she spoke for "the majority who oppose airport expansion", showed me that some radio broadcasters are nothing without briefing notes given to them by researchers.

I hope the police take the proper action against this woman and that she learns to accept that we do have democracy in this country and she can exercise it at the next general election.

Palling around with Oligarchs

Jonathan Dimbleby made a good point this morning on Andrew Marr's programme on the BBC.

He made the point that whoever you are, and particularly if you are aiming to be Chancellor or if you are an EU commissioner, if you sup with the Russians, do so with a very long spoon.

Dimbleby remarked that the Russian Oligarch that Gideon Osborne and Mandelson were "palling around with" was someone who came to prominence because of his family links to Boris Yeltsin and as a result of the "Aluminium Wars", where rival aluminium magnates were bumped off in a 1930's style gangster film, leaving just a handful of people left to take control.

Whatever the accusation against Mandelson and Osborne, the biggest question ought to be what on earth were they doing having repeated meetings with a Russian Oligarch with, lets put it nice, an interesting history.

I always say that you can judge a person by the company they keep.