They say all political careers end in failure and the resignation of Lord Peter Mandelson from the Labour Party is another confirmation of that. The key word here is ‘resignation’. Despite the latest revelations coming out at the weekend Starmer did not act decisively to kick him out of Labour. Diane Abbott on the other hand was thrown under the bus very, very quickly by Starmer not just once but twice. Her crime was for a letter she wrote that was controversial but in no way equivalent to what Mandelson did. She was kicked out for a difference of opinion, Mandelson went because his poor ethical choices and greed were damaging the Labour electoral brand.
Nevertheless it is good start to the week to see the prince of darkness finally entombed. People of a certain age have grown up with him lurking in the shadows. Shamefully Labour up to midday Monday has not said anything about removing him from his post in the House of Lords. It has tried to cover its reluctance to deal with Mandelson by saying a disciplinary process had been under way. Funny how it had been kept so quiet. Labour party disciplinary processes are a peculiar beast – they can drag on for years in the case of Dianne Abbott or they can be kept quiet and then suddenly be re-activated in the case of Lord Mandelson.
The mainstream mass media make an awful lot of the embarrassing photo of Mandelson in his underpants talking to a woman in a dressing gown. The ‘loans’ Epstein gave to his husband for an osteopathy college course are also highlighted. There are bank records from JP Morgan that also appear to confirm he received £75.000 from Epstein. Mandelson says he has no recollection of such gifts.
Amazing how these people can remember all sorts of political events and stories for their biographies but somehow forget receiving tens of thousands of pounds from a predator and paedophile billionaire like Epstein. Let us hope the bank involved confirms the authenticity of these documents. Mandelson was an astute political operator who worked observing and manipulating people all his life and yet he wants us to believe he had no idea of what Epstein was up to
Lobbying for the bankers
One thing is his professed failure to see the paedophile and his young victims. Another unforgiveable action was his enthusiastic and positive response to Epstein’s request to modify the proposal by the government for a special one-off tax on bankers’ bonuses. He was a business secretary in a Labour government at that time. There has been less focus on this. Perhaps the media think this sort of behaviour is so commonplace it is barely worth a mention.
The lobbying to stop a one-off tax that marginally affected the wealth of the corporate elite tells us everything about how Mandelson’s life-long New Labour project has contributed to its transformation into a social liberal party. Any social democratic vestiges that encroach on the power and wealth of our rulers has been wiped away amid a new permanent partnership with corporate capital. Any slight social progress is contingent on the mythical benefits of capitalist growth.
Growth means a housing programme based on a subordinate partnership with property and building developers. It means softening planning and environmental regulations and further cutting the miserly proportion of social housing built. It is about Starmer betting the house on a strategic partnership with big tech. The NHS will pay more for its drugs in order to cement this partnership. Palantir, a US data processing and analysis company, will he welcomed with open arms into the goldmine of our NHS data. No worries that Palantir is helping to carry out the Israeli genocide in Gaza. A genocide not recognised by this government.
Making Labour a social liberal party
Mandelson always made this transformation of Labour into social liberalism pretty clear. He once said that he was relaxed about people becoming very rich as long as they paid their taxes. Epstein’s millions were sheltered very well from any tax authorities.
Mandelson says he did reveal his links with Epstein before he was made US ambassador. On this occasion Mandelson is probably telling the truth. Starmer thought the risk was worth it as his boy could cuddle up to Trump and that was his main concern. The fact that Starmer’s key advisor, Morgan McSweeney was a protégé of Mandelson probably helped him make that decision. Starmer’s political inexperience and weakness has once again been exposed by this affair.
Although Mandelson had no institutional role inside the Labour apparatus he used his mastery of the political dark arts to help roll back and defeat the Corbyn project. He declared with some relish that each day as he got up out of bed he was working on how to get rid of Corbyn. Although today there are significant problems with Your Party, Corbyn has survived him as an MP and as a political leader. Mandelson even tried to do his bit in the campaign to defeat Jeremy in Islington North in 2024.
There is no way back for Mandelson now, even if his advice might still be sought in the shadows. This is his third resignation. On all three occasions it was down to him using his political contacts to extract money for himself. Again the New Labour he built and which Starmer has continued to champion, expresses the degeneration of even the moderate social democratic brand. People like former Prime Minister, Harold Wilson, were not particularly socialist but they were not on the lookout for freebies or amassing huge fortunes.
Starmer in corporate hands
Starmer on the other hand saw no problem getting his suits, spectacles and Arsenal boxes paid for by Labour party business donors. He sees no issue in making sure all the big corporates were working hand in glove with his shadow cabinet for several years before he got into power. Executives are embedded in government departments to ensure the subordinate partnership with big business is maintained.
The Labour candidate in the upcoming Gorton and Denton by-election is an example of this. She is an executive for Arup which is a key partner of the government in many big infrastructure projects. The Green candidate is a plumber. In some ways the Greens are taking on the social democratic mantle that Labour has long discarded. Under Zack Palanski’s leadership they are even giving it a more left wing makeover.
Many of the diminishing band of left activists remaining inside Labour are placing all their bets on a successful soft left challenge to Starmer in the event of an electoral disaster come May 2026. Streeting could still be a more likely winner. He has received big sums from private health companies and speaks the language of private/public partnerships. Somebody who is very much in the mould of Mandelson’s New Labour.
Not to be outdone Angela Rayner, who supported all of the Starmer’s positions on Welfare, Gaza, democratic rights and migrants, is said to have amassed a war chest of £1 million for her leadership campaign. This is unlikely to have come from the small contributions of Labour members. No, the Mandelson virus have infected the Labour Party from top to bottom and it is difficult to see how it can de-toxify. It may not be dead as Zarah Sultana says but it is in a chronic condition.
How we stop corruption
Socialists need to build into any party or movement they construct mechanisms that prevent, as far as possible, any individual enriching themselves through the political role they take on. Measures such as taking an agreed average salary rather than the official MP’s one and strict control of all expenses and gifts are vital. More important you have to develop a political culture that resolutely opposes any idea that our natural partners are big business or that the expertise of the private sector is superior to the skills found in the public sector. We have to understand that we are not only for a more just redistribution of income through taxes and benefits but we want to democratically control the process that produces an economic surplus. We want any surplus to go to benefit the many rather than the few. Water, communication, energy, public transport, drug production and leisure/sports should not be commodities but common resources for the benefit of all.
If he had any morals left Mandelson should volunteer to testify to the Congressional committee dealing with the Epstein affair. He should also give up his title. Don’t hold your breath he will do either of these things.