Prince of Darkness
I watched a programme on BBC 3 last night about Lord Peter Mandelson - aka the Prince of Darkness - entitled 'Mandelson: The Real PM?'
It was a strange experience - rather like one of Jamie Oliver's early Naked Chef programmes.
The format had the disembodied voice of a young female film-maker - posing rather vacuous questions off-camera - while remaining completely detached from proceedings.
Only at the end - as the credits rolled - was the film maker's identity revealed - Hannah Rothschild, giving a clue to behind the scenes connections of the great and the good.
As it turned out the programme was a big disappointment - a slight, if inoffensive, commentary on the death throes of the last Labour government - with little new to say.
The sub text was true enough though - because Lord Mandelson really did become a life-support machine for Gordon Brown - whose vital signs had signalled a slow but sure political death.
Yet Mandelson road to the rescue time and again - fighting off internal revolts, keeping Brown in office as Prime Minister - until the voters finally had their say at the general election.
Bringing Lord Mandelson back into the heart of government was a wizard wheeze - for a while at least - but ultimately it just showed how much Labour had run out of steam.
An unelected Prime Minister with an unelected Peer as his right hand man - was never going to breathe new life into New Labour.
It was a strange experience - rather like one of Jamie Oliver's early Naked Chef programmes.
The format had the disembodied voice of a young female film-maker - posing rather vacuous questions off-camera - while remaining completely detached from proceedings.
Only at the end - as the credits rolled - was the film maker's identity revealed - Hannah Rothschild, giving a clue to behind the scenes connections of the great and the good.
As it turned out the programme was a big disappointment - a slight, if inoffensive, commentary on the death throes of the last Labour government - with little new to say.
The sub text was true enough though - because Lord Mandelson really did become a life-support machine for Gordon Brown - whose vital signs had signalled a slow but sure political death.
Yet Mandelson road to the rescue time and again - fighting off internal revolts, keeping Brown in office as Prime Minister - until the voters finally had their say at the general election.
Bringing Lord Mandelson back into the heart of government was a wizard wheeze - for a while at least - but ultimately it just showed how much Labour had run out of steam.
An unelected Prime Minister with an unelected Peer as his right hand man - was never going to breathe new life into New Labour.
