Mandelson’s Vanity Overcame His Good Judgement

Danny Finkelstein said

“The Labour Party now has a window of opportunity and they should push Gordon Brown out of it.”

Johnson’s Rare Backstory Shows Political Disconnect – Dave’s Part
Bad Results for LibDems – Harry Phibbs
Tories Worried Gordon Might Fall – Nick Robinson
Ian Gibson Resigns and Triggers By-Election – PoliticsHome
Monster Raving Loony Beats Labour – Cambridge News
Downing Street Counter-Coup operation – Paul Waugh

SATURDAY, JUNE 6, 2009

Mandelson’s Vanity Overcame His Good Judgement

Mandelson owns Gordon Brown to a degree greater than any influence he ever had over Tony Blair.  He is in a sense now more powerful than the Prime Minister, for Gordon Brown’s job is at his disposal.  The only reason Mandelson has not taken the title of ‘Deputy Prime Minister’ is because Harriet Harman would have resigned if he did,  since that title was, much to her annoyance, denied to her.  The last thing Gordon needs is another W.A.G. (Woman Against Gordon).  So the great intriguer now has the title First Secretary of State and Lord President of the Council, the Baron Mandelson, of Foy in the county of Herefordshire and Hartlepool in the county of Durham.

He saved Gordon on Thursday night by calling Blairites who were thinking of jumping and cajoling them into staying and publicly supporting Gordon Brown, even though in private they despair of the Prime Mentalist.

Mandelson knows Gordon is not up to the job, knows that he is not even half as good as Tony Blair, knows that he is a weak, dithering and now broken man.  Look at Gordon’s face and you see a man racked with psychological pain, his face betraying his failure.  The Lobby is dismayed that Gordon dares to blatantly lie to them when claiming to possess high moral purpose.  The worst thing about Gordon’s lying are the lies he tells himself.

All this serves Mandelson’s purposes, for it means that he himself can govern just as a cunning old regent controls a young prince.  The strength of Mandelson’s position as effectively the surviving Blairite ringmaster means that if he holds the Blairites on the leash, Brown survives, if he unleashes them, Brown falls.  That power has seduced Mandelson, he has always dreamed that one day he would be able to say “l‘État c’est Moi”.  Now he has engineered himself into a positon where he can say “le premier secrétaire d’État, c’est moi”…

 

Gordon Booed at D-Day Ceremony by WW II Veterans

Unelected, unwanted even by the majority of the members of his own party*, with no mandate of any kind from party or nation.  He bullied his way to power and it seems he will have to be dragged out of office.  Surely there are decent people in the Labour Party who can put the national interest before the narrow interests of their party?

UPDATE :  The veterans booed him because it is thought that Downing Street encouraged Sarkozy to not invite the Queen so that he could get another photo-op with Obama. The Obama obsession seems evidenced by the Prime Mentalist’s renaming of ‘Omaha beach’ to ‘Obama beach’.  Cringe as our head of government embarrasses the nation yet again:

*YouGov/C4 News poll says the majority of Labour Party members think they would do better without Brown and 53% they would be better off with Blair back in charge.  They would…