UK Politics
Mandy's fight with the wimmin
Published 13 November 2008
Kevin Maguire brings you all the gossip from the Westminster village
Gearing up for June's Euro elections is Harriet Harman. Labour's deputy leader is, I hear, fond of convening 30-strong campaign sessions in the party's HQ. I doubt Labour employs that many people, so someone must be pulling them in off Victoria Street. But Hattie Harperson should enjoy chairing meetings while she can. The word in No 10 is that Gordon Brown is toying with switching control over the forthcoming contest to a sinister soulmate who keeps decisions to a chosen few, operating within a tightly knit circle. Step forward Peter Mandelson, the Supreme Leader's new deputy with a part-time cabinet job as Business Secretary.
Shares in shadowy chancellor George "Oik" Osborne have dropped faster than those in HBOS. Westminster corridors are echoing with Tory voices still braying for David Cameron to strip the young yachtsman of the Treasury brief. Boy George feared, I'm told by a reliable Con informant, that he'd be thrown overboard during the height - or depths - of the Deripaska affair.
Restless backbenchers favour baldie William Hague if Boy George is "promoted" to a fresh post. A despairing right-winger crying into his pint wondered if Druggie Dave has the killer touch or whether wee Willie could afford to move. Foreign travel provides rich material for his handsomely rewarded speeches.
Jaguar-driving class warrior John Prescott was on fine form in the Glenrothes by-election. The morale of party workers was strained on the eve of polling when, in what was billed as a pep talk, the one-time Mr Deputy Dawg appeared to think Fife was near Glasgow not Edinburgh. And my snout with the red rosette recalled stifled giggles when Prezza declared that Labour should focus on fighting the Tories. Party workers opted for a quiet life by declining to point out the enemy in Glenrothes was the, er, SNP.
Another snippet to dent the official line that Brown woke up one October morning and decided to resurrect Mandy. Labour's conference slogan "Winning the fight for Britain's future" was, spluttered a member of the Talibrown, approved last summer by the Prince of Darkness. Selected despite the opposition, incidentally, of Hattie Harperson, who worried that the macho word "fight" might turn off the wimmin.
Blurry soothsayer Alex Salmond, known as Holyrood's very own William Mystic-Mogg after erroneously predicting Nationalist glory in Glenrothes, is referred to as as "FM" in the Braveheart tribe. SNP disciples shorten the First Minister to his post's initials, leaving Salmond sounding like a men's magazine.
Kevin Maguire is associate editor (politics) of the Daily Mirror
Post this article to
We want to encourage people to comment on our content and to exchange views with other readers and hope this will be done on a courteous basis. However, if you encounter posts which are offensive please let us know by emailing comments@newstatesman.co.uk and we will take swift action where necessary.
