Mandelson - Hardcover

Macintyre, Donald

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0002559439 ISBN 13: 9780002559430

Publisher: HarperCollins, 1999

Synopsis

A major biography of one of the most skilful and controversial politicans of our times.

The eminence grise of New Labour, ‘the Prince of Darkness’ to his enemies, Peter Mandelson is one of the most effective political power brokers ever seen in British politics. He is widely credited with having masterminded the renaissance of the Labour Party and bringing about their extraordinary return to power; yet though he is endlessly discussed, he is little understood.

Donald Macintyre has secured Mandelson’s exclusive cooperation in order to write this biography. It will, however, be an entirely independent work, and Macintyre will speak to enemies as well as friends, seeking to portray the whole man, both personally and politically. It will examine the paradox of the pioneer of modern political campaigning techniques, famously supposed to have said of the 1987 election that ‘the packaging was great, it was just that the product kept seeping though’, who is also steeped in the traditions of the party, grandson of the great Herbert Morrison, and an assiduous constituency MP. It will examine Mandelson’s stormy relationship with John Prescott and the huge difficulties with Gordon Brown, and will unravel the myth surrounding his relationships with the Royal Family and his own enigmatic personal life. And it will reveal the truth about his complex and vital relationship with Tony Blair.

Just as Hugo Young’s One of Us was not only a political biography of Margaret Thatcher, but also a much wider analysis of government between 1979 and 1990, so this book will also be the first full account of the transformation of the Labour Party as seen both in opposition and in office.

Donald Macintyre is one of the most experienced and well-connected of contemporary political correspondents, and there will be a genuine whiff of the corridors of power in his book; it should be the political biography of the season.

About this title

About the Author

Donald Macintyre is the chief political commentator for the Independent. He is the bi-weekly presenter of ‘Crosstalk’ on LWT and a regular presenter of ‘The Week in Westminster’ on BBC Radio 4.

From the Back Cover

Probably the most controversial figure in present-day British politics, Peter Mandelson is the original architect of New Labour. Having begun the party’s long march back to electability as long ago as 1985, Mandelson spent the first four years of Tony Blair’s leadership of the Labour Party as Blair’s confidante, consigliere and enforcer. Since July 1998, when Blair defied Mandelson’s many critics by promoting him to the senior Cabinet job of Trade and Industry Secretary, he has at last wielded power in his own right. This biography, written with direct access to Mandelson and other key Labour figures, reveals that behind his image as the prototypical spin doctor there is a politician of substance, strong willed and strategically minded, on whom the Prime Minister has consistently relied to realize his aspirations for how New Labour should govern.

This book traces Mandelson’s deep tribal roots in Labour as a party of government, tells the inside story of how he transformed the party’s profile under Neil Kinnock and gives the first full account of the still-reverberating crisis which developed in the Labour modernizers’ ranks after John Smith died in May 1994. It explains the fear and hostility Mandelson generates in parts of his own party and the press. It evaluates the price he paid in personal political fulfilment for a role at the centre of power and for a relationship with his leader which was arguably even more valuable to Blair than to him. Finally, it seeks to determine how far Mandelson can now rise in the Labour Government.

Peter Mandelson’s career is inextricably interwoven with the story of Labour’s recovery from its near-terminal collapse in the early 1980s, the most dramatic political comeback of modern times. As well as being a biography of the most intriguing and least understood member of the Blair Cabinet, this book is also the most authoritative study yet of the formation of New Labour under three leaders.

Edition details

• Publisher: HarperCollins
• Publication date: 1999
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0002559439
• ISBN 13: 9780002559430
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 672