pmh

I seem to recall that Mandelson‘s superpower back in the Blair era was his unprecedentedly good, for a Labour politician, relationship with the Murdoch press and to some degree, Murdoch family

IMO we can say with a fair degree of confidence that everything from the secret 2018 wrecking campaign to Steve Reed’s weird hate crusade against that school last month was a joint enterprise between the Labour Party and the Times newspaper, with Mandelson involved in an unknown capacity.

Who is it that actually likes and appreciates Peter, and do they vote for his party

A personal tragedy but a jaw-dropping scandal

MATTHEW PARRIS | NOTEBOOK Labour owes debt to giant of' politics in modern era • NEW Mandelson has been on the right side of every important argument in the politics of the left since the 1990s

But as the latest emails suggest, Mandelson's relationship to Epstein was not "like everyone else's". They spoke frequently; he once referred to the financier as his "best pal". "I don't know what his motives were - probably mixed - but he provided guidance to help me navigate out of the world of politics and into the world of commerce and finance," Mandelson says. "Perhaps he wanted to be a mentor and I was naive in regarding him as a good-faith actor. There was no reason to shun his advice, but I was too trusting. He was always very free and forthright with his views and always presented them as in my best interests." Of course, this isn't the first time Mandelson has found himself turfed out over bad judgment involving the rich and powerful. In fact, it's been a common thread of his career, from an undeclared loan from a millionaire colleague to a row over a passport application for a billionaire (he was later cleared). Is this the one scandal he can't find a way back from? His old friend, Sky's Trevor Phillips, said he had been "at best, naive and foolish" and "at worst, greedy and duplicitous". "I've had a lot of bad luck, no doubt some of it of my own making," he tells me during our meeting in Wiltshire.

"Does everyone like spicy food?" calls out Reinaldo from the kitchen to me and the photographer. "I'm a Brazilian. I have to check," he adds with a smile. Mandelson, meanwhile, is checking the photos he just sat for. "Too posed," he remarks to the photographer. "A friend has said to me, 'Remember, tough times don't last. Tough people do, " he tells me. "That's the belief I held on to. Someone else said, Remember, you are the same person with the same knowledge and the same skills you had before this crisis hit you. This crisis has not taken any of those things away from you.'" He has experience in both political death and reincarnation. He has been at the centre of UK politics across four decades. The original spin doctor for Neil Kinnock, he blended power and communications in a way no one else had. He became central to the Blair project — which also made him a lightning rod. He was forced to resign as trade secretary in 1998 and as Northern Ireland secretary in 2001, only to re-emerge as a European trade commissioner in 2004, then ennobled by Gordon Brown to become business secretary in 2008.

If nobody is speaking up for Peter except for the Times, and they’re being *very* understanding; and the Labour Party has had a very odd relationship with that paper for at least five years and really more like “since 2018 and the launch of the secret wrecking project”: what does that tell us?

The UK press don’t notice a lot, for many reasons, but IME a relatively privileged middle to upper class group of people will be alert to people of similar or lesser backgrounds suddenly having a lot of money. Gossiping, researching, that kind of thing. Do we think that did not happen with Mandelson

What do we think Ian means here when he says Mandelson appears to have had an important role in the whole Starmer project? What kind of role might that have been, and what recompense did Peter expect for it

If Starmer’s judgment is in question for employing, the treacherous twat Mandelson, then I think we should question Wes Streeting’s judgment for handing all our NHS information over to Palantir a company from a hostile state.

McSweeney must go. He played a key role in Mandelson’s appointment and chose to ignore or downplay his involvement with a paedophile sex trafficker. Starmer needs to wake up and if he can’t cope without McSweeney then he needs to go too. His days are numbered.

The bastard (Mandelson) also famously said: "I wake up everyday thinking of ways to oust Jeremy Corbyn!"...

#Newsnight

Peter Mandelson: I try to undermine Jeremy Corbyn 'every single day' Ex-minister speaks out against Labour leader as Blairite peers express fury about Corbyn’s position on Brexit in Lords debate

"Peter Mandelson, the architect of New Labour, has said he is working every day to undermine Jeremy Corbyn"

It's a good time to remind people, a lot of the smear campaign against Jeremy Corbyn, in the media, was orchestrated by Peter Mandelson.
www.theguardian.com/politics/201...
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Kier Starmer's joke on Mandelson’s appointment as ambassador to the United States. Starmer knew who he was appointing and appointed him regardless. So much for a guy who vowed to 'clean up British politics and restore standards in public life.'🙄

Stephen Kinnock, Farage

… who else thought it was a good idea?

Lammy was dead keen too as I recall

Jonathan Ashworth on Peter Mandelson's appointment as US Ambassador: 'Peter is absolutely first class. I think he brings heft, insight, gravitas and policy smarts to that role.'

Let's just remind ourselves of this from Jonathan Ashworth.

Labour can't win. If you want to beat Reform, vote Green

Since when did a corporate lobbyist represent the working class?

Israeli Spy Stayed for Weeks at a Time at Jeffrey Epstein's Mansion Leaked emails show Epstein working on a wire transfer to Ehud Barak's top aide, Yoni Koren, who regularly stayed at his apartment.

Are we really doing the “Russian Agent” thing when he had an Israeli spook / aide of Ehud Barak *living in his house*?

www.dropsitenews.com/p/israeli-sp...

And the UK govt hiding behind a pathetic regulator does nothing.

I had low expectations of Starmer which he has failed to meet.

Christian nationalist C. Jay Engel brags that J.D. Vance has surrounded himself with "our guys" who are "much more resolute in their right-wingness" than Trump's team: "They operate within our circles, they talk to us, they're in our group chats."

The climate crisis is here.

Right now.

Dockworkers from dozens of Mediterranean ports coordinate action against Israeli arms shipments Dockworkers across Europe and North Africa plan a major strike under the banner ‘Dockworkers Don’t Work for War’

This is Solidarity!!!

thecradle.co/articles-id/...

Now We Know Who Killed Alex Pretti The revelation of the identities of the federal agents who shot Alex Pretti revealed a culture of law enforcement impunity amidst calls for accountability, reports Jon Queally. By Jon Queally Comm...

Now we know who killed Alex Pretti: but the impunity we have grown used to of the IDF & armed settlers in Palestine is equally present in the US itself. Imperialism & fascism have the same roots & the same prerogatives of violence.

consortiumnews.com/2026/02/03/n...

I'm glad to see Reform's 'Starve a child for a pint of mild' policy isn't happening despite their and the Tories' best efforts to keep children in poverty.

The bill to scrap 2 child cap passes its second reading!

Pretty sure Labour would prefer a Reform win to a Green one …

Spot on… I also wonder if some of the self-identified “moderates” on social media feel like it’s ok to be just plain, uncalled for rude to lefties, because theyve had several years of the dominant media telling them it’s the left who are nasty and unkind.

(4)One weird effect is you get things that are understood on the left - the press is dominated byright wing, distorting media , in complex , sophisticated ways - repeated by 'moderate liberals ' in the most crass and conspiracy-theory manner

(3)Because things they took to be "common sense" turn out obviously untrue- there's a common denial of how unpopular Starmer is (leading to conspiracy theory attitudes to polling & press) because by recieved wisdom, 'triangulation ' or 'compromise' or 'big tent' should be popular...

(2) It feels a bit visceral: Sometimes its anger, which feels quite "shoot the messenger ", sometimes its just rejection 'not true, made up' which seems like plain denial. Imo part of this is people who think themselves sophisticated, angry they've been duped. Some is...

(1)You sometimes get a v. immoderate, emotional reaction from "moderate' folk to basic , obvious points -like eg Starmer's Labour would prefer to risk Reform wins to Green wins, They aren't 'compromising', they really do like authoritarian pro,corporate policies , and want jobs with those corps....

PRIVATE EYE NAMED IN EPSTEIN FILES

In the latest files related to the late sex offender Jeffrey Epstein released by the US Justice Department, the Eye is denounced as “an absolute rag of a publication” by Epstein’s then lawyer, Paul Tweed…

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Ian Hislop, Private Eye’s editor, said: “It’s nice to see that Private Eye was getting close enough to the truth fifteen years ago to make some really appalling people – and their fine upstanding legal representatives – nervous.

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