A Tangled Web

From Parris to Brussels



I admit to being profoundly disgusted by the elevation of Peter Mandelson to the corridors of European power. His promotion courtesy of the backing of his old chum, Blair, is the quintessence of all that is hollow, insincere and contemptible about this administration, which the British people - if the polls are to be believed - are still happy to be cursed with.



Matthew Parris has a different perspective: one with the capability of gladdening the heart when analysed in the context of the EU careers of past commissioners. He contends: 'They don't come back, those we send to Brussels. Only Roy Jenkins offers a partial exception to that rule.' Could this mean that the United Kingdom has finally bade farewell to the man who has done more to cheapen the image of British politics than any other comparable figure? Have we seen the back of someone for whom the all-important goal of presentation revolved around the perceived as opposed to the factual?



Mandelson was appointed with the express intention of lessening the hostility of the British people to a pseudo-sovereign entity they feel they no longer have any influence or control over. We should not only be glad of the fact that Mandelson's preoccupation with propaganda will, ultimately, exacerbate this hostility, but also of the likelihood that ensconcement in Brussels will mark the swansong of his long and dubious career in politics generally, and the perpetuation of the New Labour project in particular.