I see Peter Mandelson is claiming some kind of moral victory over the Alan Duncan exposé that came out today. He says the secret tape of Duncan complaining that MPs are “treated like shit” shows the Conservative MP holds different views in private than he does in public.
Alan Duncan is very fond of speaking a good game publicly but in private talking and acting quite differently, so I am not surprised he has been found out.
Two problems here. Firstly, “speaking a good game publicly but in private talking and acting quite differently” is, if I’m not mistaken, the very basis of collective cabinet government – not to mention the essence of the spin-heavy style of politics pioneered by Mandelson and his cronies for the “New Labour” project in the early-1990s.
Secondly, since Mandelson appears determined to take the moral high ground, let’s remind ourselves that although Duncan is clearly a bit of a jerk, at least he’s an elected jerk and therefore subject to the whims of his consituents. Mandelson, on the other hand, is an anti-democrat who has appeared, Voldemort-like, from pariahdom, has taken a seat at the heart of government when no-one’s been looking and is now refusing to go away. And there’s nothing anyone can do about it!
The Conversation {1 comments}
Yeah, but Mandy’s a fighter and not a quitter. I’m considering reprinting my articles on him from the Liv Student days – they’re still fairly pertinent (ie. slating him).
To be fair to Mandelson I think he’s actually doing a cracking job with the car industry. It’s just, y’know, the sheer unpleasantness of the man.
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