You've got to admire Peter Mandelson's chutzpah. He makes some remarks which are a clear slapdown to Ed Balls' core vote heartlands strategy and then holds his hand up and pretends that his comments were merely a statement of the bleedin'obvious. And of course, he's right it is. But the fact is he didn't need to open his mouth at all. Peter Mandelson says nothing without knowing exactly what the consequences are.
What's his endgame?
18 comments:
With Mandy there is rarely an endgame. It's the game itself you see, the game itself. The thrill of the chase. The delight a grandmaster derives from a well thought out move.
In this instance it's a fairly sweet way of telling that odious twerp Balls:
"Don't f**k with me sunny Jim; I've eaten bigger fry than you for Sunday brunch. Cannes, or possibly Antibes, if memory serves..."
PM PM, clearly.
If the face is anything to go by a dissapointing climax.
More Jewels, Titles and Money Silly !
"What's his endgame?"
I hope the same as this Government's and Labors'. OBLIVION!
Rats in a sack - biting and clawing a way out before the ship sinks.
I reckon he thinks Labour are going to be down to their core vote anyway, and he wants to be able to say afterwards that he had nothing to do with it - he wanted to go for the floating voters.
Mandy says it best when he says nothing at all...You know he's got it all sussed out...
Ed Balls is my least favourite politician. Then it's Ben Bradshaw, then it's David Davis, then it's Liam Fox, then it's Sayeeda Warsi...in no particular order.
I think Mandy, Balls and Harman are looking beyond the General Election. Stalls are being laid out for the Labour leadership contest. Balls' recent proposals on importing bizarro feminist dogma into schools are pretty much a dog whistle to Harriet Harman and her supporters amongst Labour Womyn.
At this rate Labour won't make it to polling day at all.
Peter Mandelson
Prime Minister
Labour lose (though not as badly as many here wish).
Mandelson is at a loose end. Aims to emulate grand-dad Herbie Morrison (did I get the generations right?). Targets BoJo.
Meanwhile, Cameron hits the buffers. Tories in a state. BoJo runs out of excuses with London commuters (surely, today's thieving of the Livingstone "Overground" legacy was shameless?).
Mandy up to be Mr London? And might do the job as well as either of his predecessors?
What sort of degree did Mandelson take at Oxford? A lower second? Thazt would be about right: there's a sort of middling, ambient intelligence there but nothing too luminous.
As Stepney has said above, for him the scheming is an end in itself, which is why he has misread the lessons of The Prince.
More ammunition, to my mind, that the only people who should be sent to make laws over the rest of us are the ones who really don't want to do so (no offence Iain).
PM thinks only about PM. If he's slapping down Balls (oo er missus) it's because he's "the man", and no Blinky is going to upstage him.
It's all oneupsmanship, and very few can beat Mandy at it.
Every time I see mention made of Peter Mandelson I recall the fabulous anecdote of Winston Churchill and Peter's grandfather Herbert Morrison. Winston, whilst Morrision was Home Sec. during WW2, was on the throne (privy, bog, toilet ...) and his PA called out that Mr Morrision wanted to see him. Winston replied, quite truthfully, that he could only deal with one shit at a time.
I sure hope that the upcoming elections do not result in a minority government as I'm sure in this dreadful scenario Mr. Mandelson will seek to take a leading role of some sort.
Yeah I can see it now - Mr Clegg and Mr Mandelson playing political footsie with each other. Sh**s of the world unite.
@Moriarty
there's a sort of middling, ambient intelligence there but nothing too luminous.
Mandelson's career has never relied on his intellect or academic skills. He has got where he is through his low cunning, raw deviousness, animal instinct for self-advancement, capacity for manipulating others and unwillingness to let petty moral considerations stand in the way of what he wants.
He also lacks any sort of moral or ideological compass: he is in the Labour Party because it offered him the best venue for personal gain, not because he's a Red Flag-Waving True Believer. For Mandy, no act is considered unacceptable if it brings him closer to what he wants.
Ed the Shred
Wasn't is Sir Stafford Cripps and Winston Churchill?
Doesn't distract from the fact that is a great quip, although one that I suspect Mr C had prepared in advance.
Moriarty-
"What sort of degree did Mandelson take at Oxford? A lower second? Thazt would be about right: there's a sort of middling, ambient intelligence there but nothing too luminous".
That certainly doesn't work.
The people displaying "a sort of middling, ambient intelligence there but nothing too luminous" are exactly the people who get star Firsts at Oxbridge.
The really luminous ones get "on the wrong side of authorities and resented the school’s regimen and teaching method", and eventually get shunted off to be assistant examiners at the patent office.
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