Peter Mandelson glided into the Progress rally last night. It was just like (very) old times: Derek Draper, in a creased brown pinstripe, crumpled himself into the back row.
Peter Mandelson glided into the Progress rally last night. It was just like (very) old times: Derek Draper, in a creased brown pinstripe, crumpled himself into the back row.
Mandelson kicked off by trashing reports that he was about to make his peace with the Brown administration, and then proceeded to do so.
The transition from Blair to Brown and "from one version of New Labour to the next", he said, was "a great tribute to the strength of New Labour" - note the "New"s - and, yes, to Gordon Brown as well.
It was also a tribute to Blair himself: "No clinging on, no backseat driving," no Thatcher-like behaviour.
Compliments and congratulations duly paid, Mandelson moved in - if not for the kill, then some judicious pecking at the big beast.
Pursuing NHS reform in the context of a tight spending round would be tough. The new PM needed to work out how his "moral compass" applied to the "very difficult questions" of crime, antisocial behavior, immigration and welfare. This was not just the Blairite agenda - it was the public's agenda.
Then came Europe, a subject close to the trade commissioner's heart. How else could Britain achieve more influence in the world when the special relationship was proving less than fruitful?
We also learnt that Mandelson's "brief sojourn" with the Young Communist League in 1971 "was more for social than political reasons". Hmm.
The standard line on this aberration was that it was prompted by Labour's support for the Vietnam war. Could there have been another, more handsome explanation?
