Friday, October 03, 2008
A Toxic Injection of A Poisonous Talent
Mandelson: a poisonous bacillus
without whom British Public Life
would be infinitely better off
without whom British Public Life
would be infinitely better off
If it be true that Gordon Brown is to resurrect the political career of one Peter Mandelson, it is surely a sign of both the paucity of talent in the middle to junior ranks of the Parliamentary Labour Party and of the shamelessness of the Prime Minister in bringing back to public office a man who has felt the need to resign twice from Cabinet.
Let us also recall that Peter Mandelson was one of those in the Labour Party hierarchy of the late 1990s who, along with the likes of Blair and Alistair Campbell, so devalued the currency of politics with their remorseless adherence to the art of 'spin' (which most decent people think of nothing more than a culture of rank dishonesty) that to be a politician now ranks somewhere below 'estate agent' and 'second-hand car salesman' in the eyes of many members of the electorate, though it is right to say that plenty of other polticians have contributed greatly to this process.
There was a time when one resignation occasioned by allegations of impropriety of the kind that led to Mandelson to go would have meant an complete end to hopes of ministerial office. The return of this deeply unpleasant and flawed individual to be, for the third time, a Minister of the Crown, tells you all you need to know about the attitude of Labour in general and Brown in particular to any sort of turpitude, moral or otherwise: they do not give a toss about it because at the end of the day it is only power for which they care a fig and if restoring a poisonous Machiavelli like Mandelson is what it takes, so be it.
It was bad enough that he was rewarded for his behaviour with a plum job in Brussels. That he is to be given a plum job in government and a seat in the House of Lords to boot shows a desperate Prime Minister hard at work in devaluing the currency of probity, honesty and integrity in public life as well as clinging to the lifebelt.
Not a good day for British public life, I am afraid.
Let us also recall that Peter Mandelson was one of those in the Labour Party hierarchy of the late 1990s who, along with the likes of Blair and Alistair Campbell, so devalued the currency of politics with their remorseless adherence to the art of 'spin' (which most decent people think of nothing more than a culture of rank dishonesty) that to be a politician now ranks somewhere below 'estate agent' and 'second-hand car salesman' in the eyes of many members of the electorate, though it is right to say that plenty of other polticians have contributed greatly to this process.
There was a time when one resignation occasioned by allegations of impropriety of the kind that led to Mandelson to go would have meant an complete end to hopes of ministerial office. The return of this deeply unpleasant and flawed individual to be, for the third time, a Minister of the Crown, tells you all you need to know about the attitude of Labour in general and Brown in particular to any sort of turpitude, moral or otherwise: they do not give a toss about it because at the end of the day it is only power for which they care a fig and if restoring a poisonous Machiavelli like Mandelson is what it takes, so be it.
It was bad enough that he was rewarded for his behaviour with a plum job in Brussels. That he is to be given a plum job in government and a seat in the House of Lords to boot shows a desperate Prime Minister hard at work in devaluing the currency of probity, honesty and integrity in public life as well as clinging to the lifebelt.
Not a good day for British public life, I am afraid.
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