mandy love

Peter Mandelson has seduced his party. Next: the nation.

Personally, I've always loved Mandy; but even more so since he came back from the political dead a year ago in his new, devil-may-care, unshakably confident, mildly camp incarnation. There is now no senior politician  - with the exception of Ken Clarke - who seems so gloriously at ease in his own skin.

That said, his speech yesterday reminded us of his neediness. Especially that shameless, gratuitous "But I am trying my best!" Worthy of Sally Fields. Love me, love me!

The speech, of course, came across brilliantly in the hall and terribly on TV. Not that this matters (just as it wouldn't have mattered much if the reverse were true). The communication strategy was spot on, as you'd expect. When things are going well, the key audience is viewers at home. When they're going terribly, it's the poor bloody infantry in the hall that need their spirits raising.

Blair, of course, was the consummate TV performer even behind the podium, conversational and casual. For all his association with modernity, Mandelson still lives, in his heart, in the world of his grandfather Herbert Morrison. Yesterday's speech, with its bellowing, its exaggerated hand movements, and its staginess, felt very much like a blast from the past of political oratory.

(Ps and what was that bonkers "Boy George/sailing close to the wind" sing-song about?)

Comments

[15step]

i just watched Dr. Strangelove for the first time, and i couldn't think who Mandrake reminded me of..Then it hit me..It's Mandy (even though the tash is gone)..