The transformation of Britain's Labour Party would be complete, Tony Blair once remarked, when its members learnt to love Peter Mandelson. That was a tall order. In Britain, Mr Man-delson's popular image was fixed long ago: he was the Machia-velli to Mr Blair's prince; a back-room boy whose ambition pushed him to quit the shadows and seek high public office, with disastrous results. Many voters, not just those on the left, were unsurprised when Mr Mandelson twice resigned from the government, in 1998 and 2001, amid allegations of favours done by and for wealthy friends (he was cleared of wrongdoing by an inquiry into the 2001 case). A talent for spin, was Britain's dismissive verdict on Mr Mandelson, not for serious policy.
展开▼
