Peter Mandelson
From the Prince of Darkness, a tale with a sting: Mandelson stars in TV advert for his autobiography
By JASON GROVES
Last updated at 11:47 AM on 10th July 2010
Peter Mandelson donned the smoking jacket and cravat of the archetypal cad last night as he prepared to stick the knife into his New Labour colleagues.
In a TV advert for the serialisation of his autobiography, the spin doctor-turned-Cabinet minister suggested the history of New Labour read like a 'fairytale', complete with rival kings and an evil prince – with himself cast in the latter role.
Seated in a leather chair in an oak panelled office, Lord Mandelson said: 'Are you sitting comfortably? Then I'll begin.
By the book: Peter Mandelson in his TV guise as story teller
'Once upon a time there was a kingdom and for many years it was ruled by two powerful kings.
'But they wouldn't have been in power without a third man. They called him the Prince of Darkness,' adding with a smirk: 'Don't know why.'
He concluded: 'This fairytale wouldn't have a happy ending. But that's for next time.'
Sources suggest the most eagerly awaited political memoirs of the will be 'very gossipy', with a string of anecdotes about the power struggles between Gordon Brown and Tony Blair.
In an ominous sign that he intends to use his book to settle old scores Lord Mandelson acknowledged that both former Labour Prime Ministers had 'used' him and let him 'swing in the wind' during the well-publicised scandals that twice forced him from the Cabinet.
He said: 'Do I wish they had perhaps behaved to me and treated me differently? Yes. I would have preferred that of course, and I would not have paid the price in my ministerial career. But politics is not always as simple as that.'
A source who has read the memoirs said neither Mr Blair nor Mr Brown comes out of the book well 'to put it mildly'.
She said that Mr Blair emerges as 'weak' and 'unable to make a decision without checking it with Mandelson first'.
In his dealings with Mr Brown, Mr Blair comes across as a 'coddling and ineffectual parent who constantly threatens to discipline a child but never follows through'. The source says that in much of the book Mr Brown comes across as 'seriously unhinged'.
Mandy's script: The memoirs are expected to be 'very gossipy'
In an interview with the Times last night he said that while he admired Mr Blair he could be 'chilly and disapproving'. He describes his relationship with Mr Brown during the period before his astonishing third return to the Cabinet as 'awful'.
Along with Mr Blair and Mr Brown Lord Mandelson was the architect of New Labour in the mid-1990s. His book is expected to lift the lid on the astonishing rows and tensions between the three men. Last night he said Mr Brown told him the trio had 'killed each other' in office.
Lord Mandelson said Mr Blair had been forced to devote too much time to dealing with the 'insurgency next door' led by Mr Brown and his lieutenants. He said many of Mr Brown's aides, who included the Labour leadership contender Ed Balls had shown 'unbridled contempt' for Mr Blair.
He added: 'You know they really thought Tony was a weak, ineffective prime minister whose policies they disagreed with and that were leading nowhere — certainly not in the direction they wanted. They wanted a different sort of new Labour government with a different set of policies.'
Lord Mandelson also defends his well-known love of the high-life and fascination with wealthy men, such as Nat Rothschild, the financier and former hedge fund chairman, and Oleg Deripaska, the Russian metals billionaire.
Responding to criticism of his enthusiasm for people not normally associated with Labour values, he said: 'Do you know what I say to that? Good for me. I mean, I’m not going to be governed by Labour Party political correctness about who I should meet or talk to or where I should spend my time.
'I am drawn towards people who are interesting, who are achievers, who are dynamic. I can also mix with and perfectly happily exist with people who are not like that. It’s not a matter of the high life or the low life. For me it’s the interesting life.'
As head of Labour's media drive in the 1990s Lord Mandelson was initially close to both Mr Brown and Mr Blair. But after backing Mr Blair to succeed John Smith as Labour leader in 1994, Mandelson had a catastrophic falling out with Mr Brown which endured for years. He said last night that Mr Brown 'couldn't get over' the fact that Mr Blair had beaten him to othe leadership.
In Government Lord Mandelson earned the highly unusual distinction of having to resign from the Cabinet twice. In 1998 he was forced to resign as trade secretary following revelations that he received a secret loan from millionaire fellow minister Geoffrey Robinson.
Following a swift recall by Mr Blair he quit as Northern Ireland Secretary just two years later following claims that he was involved in helping one of the billionaire Hinduja brothers obtain a passport.
In a final favour, Mr Blair then appointed Lord Mandelson as Britain's EU Commissioner. In a shock move Mr Brown brought Lord Mandelson back to the Cabinet for a third time two years ago, following which the two men appeared to agree an uneasy truce.
The swift publication of his memoirs following Labour's defeat is said to have infuriated Mr Blair whose own memoirs are finally due for publication in the autumn.
Peter Mandelson puts boot into Tony Blair in 'hatchet job' book
By DAILY MAIL REPORTER
Last updated at 11:14 PM on 11th July 2010
Labour insiders say Mr Blair has protested to Lord Mandelson for stealing the limelight - and valuable sales - by unexpectedly launching his memoirs more than a month ahead of the former Prime Minister's book.
But it is Lord Mandelson's criticism of Mr Blair that is likely to provoke most controversy when his book, The Third Man, goes on sale on Thursday.
The spat over Lord Mandelson's book has drawn in a number of senior Labour figures all seeking to apportion blame for the party's failure at the election.
At loggerheads: Tony Blair is believed to be furious with Lord Mandelson, who portrays the former Prime Minister as weak and ineffectual
Publishing sources say the peer expresses resentment at his treatment by Mr Blair, and suggests that the former Prime Minister's private comments were not consistent with what he told people to their face.
One said: 'Neither [Blair nor Gordon Brown] emerges particularly well, to put it mildly.
‘Blair seems weak, unable to make a decision without checking it first with Mandelson and, in relation to Brown, like a coddling and ineffectual parent.'
But today the peer came under fire from one Mr Brown’s closest allies for the ‘disaster’ of Labour’s general election campaign.
Charlie Whelan told The Sunday Telegraph: ‘Peter ran the worst general election campaign in Labour’s history.
‘Nobody knew what the message was at all. It was a disaster from the beginning to end.’
Mr Whelan, who is a former press secretary to Mr Brown added: ‘Peter wasn’t focused on the campaign at all. Clearly his only thoughts were for his book.
Interviewed ahead of the serialisation, Lord Mandelson said that Mr Brown felt he, Lord Mandelson and Mr Blair had 'killed each other' during the height of the New Labour infighting.
Lord Mandelson has has painted himself as a master storyteller in adverts for his forthcoming memoir (above) - using images reminiscent of best-selling author Roald Dahl at work (below)
He suggested that Mr Brown's supporters were responsible for much of the difficulty.
'The unbridled contempt that some people around Gordon had for Tony and those who worked for him was very destructive,' he said.
'They were constantly winding him up - partly because that's what they felt. Partly because that's what they thought he wanted to hear.'
Lord Mandelson declined to endorse any of the current Labour leadership candidates.
But he did say he knew former Cabinet colleague Ed Miliband 'very well and liked him'.
He also said ex-Schools Secretary Ed Balls had leadership qualities, including 'strong views, tough analysis and a forceful personality'.
Former deputy leader Lord Prescott cited internal fighting between Blairites and Brownites for Labour's election defeat.
And he blamed people like Mr Whelan for bringing it out into the open with briefings to journalists.
Speaking on BBC1's Andrew Marr Show, Lord Prescott said: 'I have to say, Charlie, you're doing now what used to happen to Labour before and it did contribute to our defeat.
'Can we put that behind us and can we concentrate on what people are concerned about in this country?'
Lord Prescott, who took his seat in the Lords last week, said tensions at the top of government were not new, pointing to Margaret Thatcher's difficult relationship with Geoffrey Howe.
'What I think is new is the groups of supporters, the advisers, the people like Charlie who are on one side, who are feeding the media who love these kind of stories and they print that as if that's the politics,' he said. 'It does us damage.'
He said that the Gillian Duffy incident - when Mr Brown branded the Rochdale pensioner bigoted during the general election - was a sign that the Government was 'beginning to lose its way'.
But he denied that it made the difference between victory and defeat in the May election.
'We lost the election when we started attacking each other internally about Brown and Blair - now being reiterated in Peter's book - and then someone on the sides coming in and blaming somebody else,' he said.
He defended Lord Mandelson for wanting to write a book 'to put the record straight'.
'He's doing it with a certain amount of egging and spinning I'm bound to agree, but it's almost inevitable,' he said.
Lord Mandelson's relationship with Mr Blair cooled two years ago when he made a surprise comeback in Mr Brown's Government.
Publicly, Mr Blair supported the move but privately it is understood he believed it was a mistake because it effectively ended the chances of leadership contender David Miliband ousting Mr Brown before the Election.
It was not the first time they had fallen out. Friends of Lord Mandelson say he felt let-down by the handling of his two resignations from Cabinet - over a £373,000 home loan from fellow Minister Geoffrey Robinson and, secondly, over allegations that he helped a passport application by an Indian tycoon who invested in the Millennium Dome project.
Allies of Mr Blair are livid with Lord Mandelson. 'Peter has chosen to write a punchy and provocative book and that is a matter for him,' said one. 'Tony's book will be much more reflective, considered and statesmanlike.'
The Mail on Sunday has established that Blair and Mandelson met in secret last week to forge a 'pact' over their books, agreeing neither would criticise the other in public.
However, this has not stopped their acolytes breaking ranks to tell the truth about the tensions between the two camps.
Former Labour cabinet minister Hazel Blears cautioned against anybody allowing their memoirs to damage the party as it comes back from its election defeat.
'I think it adds to the colour of politics, you can get a bit of inside track. We're all a bit gossipy aren't we, we like to hear some of that,' she told Sky News.
'What I don't want to happen is with the publication of anybody's memoirs that we take some of the morale out of the Labour Party.
'We've done quite well after the election, we lost, we've come back we've not been full of recriminations and I think we just need to stay on track.'
Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1293756/Peter-Mandelson-puts-boot-Tony-Blair-hatchet-job-book.html#ixzz0u1e3OPBg
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