Thank you so much for uploading these videos, we have watched all of your political documentaries with my girlfriend and routinely check if you have uploaded more. Documentaries and stuff regarding the Labour Party are especially interesting.
In his first incarnation, as Secretary of State for Trade and Industry, he lasted less than five months in 1998. He was undone on that occasion by the revelation that he had bought a fashionable home in Notting Hill, with the help of an interest-free £373,000 loan from his millionaire ministerial colleague Geoffrey Robinson. When Mr Mandelson filled in a Britannia Building Society mortgage form to buy the house in 1996 he had failed to mention the loan. Nor did it appear on his entry in the Commons Register of Interests. After joining the Cabinet he also did not bring the loan to the attention of his Permanent Secretary, even though Mr Robinson's business links were at that time under investigation by Mr Mandelson's own department. Tony Blair had vowed that his Government, in contrast to the Conservatives, would be "whiter than white" and Mr Mandelson had to go. He admitted being "technically" wrong in not telling his building society about the loan but, even though he resigned, insisted he had done nothing improper. That left his path open, once the furore had died down, for a return to the Cabinet only 10 months later in the crucial post of Northern Ireland Secretary. He lasted more than a year this time before another scandal erupted. It related to a previous ministerial role, when he had responsibility for the Millennium Dome, and centred on newspaper accusations that he helped the Indian billionaire Srichand Hinduja to secure a British passport in return for a £1 million donation to help fund the Dome's Faith Zone. When the story broke Mr Mandelson said an inquiry about Mr Hinduja's passport application had been dealt with by his Private Secretary, not him personally. That led to the Prime Minister's spokesman Alastair Campbell inadvertently misleading the media and Chris Smith, the then Culture Secretary, doing the same with MPs in the Commons. It soon became apparent from Home Office records that Mr Mandelson had personally telephoned Home Office Minister Mike O'Brien. Their conversation related to whether a passport application from Mr Hinduja would be reconsidered following a change in government policy. After being contacted by Downing Street Mr O'Brien confirmed that he remembered having a two-minute telephone conversation with Mr Mandelson. Mr Mandelson was then forced to resign as Northern Ireland Secretary but, once again, maintained he had done nothing wrong. He blamed his second departure on a "muddle" that led to himself and other senior figures giving conflicting accounts. A subsequent independent report into the so-called "cash for passports" affair by Sir Anthony Hammond QC found in Mr Mandelson's favour, concluding that neither he, nor anyone else, had done anything improper in the affair. Despite that there appeared little prospect of a resurrection for his twice foiled Cabinet career and a long walk into the political wilderness loomed. Mr Mandelson had been one of the key architects of New Labour, replacing the party's red flag logo with the red rose and pioneering the use of rapid rebuttal units, radiopagers for MPs and the repetitive television soundbite. But he was always deeply unpopular with those who clung to traditional Labour values and regarded him as a champagne socialist. Whether true or not the story that he once mistook mushy peas for "guacamole dip" at a fish and chip shop in Hartlepool says much about how he was viewed by some of his colleagues. When he stood up in Hartlepool in 2001, after keeping his seat in Parliament in the General Election, Mr Mandelson gave a bizarre, emotionally charged speech in which he proclaimed "I am a fighter, not a quitter" and referred to his "inner steel". That was greeted by many as the last throes of a politician on the way to oblivion and one election worker at Labour headquarters was heard to say: "He's truly lost it."
Every time I watched Mandelson on TV, his pompous self absorbed ego dominated over what he was actually saying, the unnerving alliance with Blair's New Labour didn't help.
Mandelson represents not only what is wrong with the Labour Party, but what is wrong with The World in general and British politics in particular. A classic example of what happens when the end justifies the means.
@@peterembranch5797 Look around you, everything he warned us about has come true. British and French declared war on Germany and made allies with Stalin to stop Germany destroying communism.
@@pippipster6767 Fax John Major was such a good PM, but people believe the MSM lies put out to overshadow the great things the Major gov did and people voted for B-Liar. Ironically 1997 is officially the year there British Empire ended…
By turning up I lose my mind at ppl who see nefarious conspiracy any time someone gets power, political party meetings are so sparsely populated these days you could get real power if you had some ability and could be bothered showing up so I’ve got no time for ppl who cry that ppl who can be bothered actually gain some power
Undeniably ambitious man who backed both horses, Blair and Brown, in those early days and though stopped in his tracks by his own greed and stupidity, is living a very nice Champagne Socialist life like his mentor, Neil K.
It wasn't a case of 'both horses' then. There were many 'horses'. Mandleson backed Blair and Brown because they were from his wing of the party - he wanted either of them to win as opposed to someone from the left.
tbf on corbyn i think he cares more about the working class than blair did. he's an actual socialist for starters and for years now he's kept the same view. he's the first real labour leader since foot
it was electable before new labour. remember how popular smith was before he died or how unpopular major was 1992-1997. labour won 1997 because people hated major
What sort of socalism did he represent, certainly not that which our grandfathers fought for, he represented himself. This is the unacceptable face of our political class,
what, by winning three elections? Is the 'heart and soul' of the Labour Party to lose every election to the Tories just so you can wallow in self righteousness? You lot are an absolute bunch of morons. Your moral vanity and self indulgence is off the Richter Scale. You betray everyone that you claim to care for, just so you can feel good about how "superior" your morality is. If you want to see what ripped the heart and soul of the Labour Party, take a long hard look at Jeremy Corbyn instead. Worst electoral defeat for decades and destroying the party's reputation with the appalling anti-Semites whose support he accepted.
But he lied about Victorian values whilst carryout an extra marital affair with Edwina Currie; showing his true deceitful nature, ask his wife about his decency!@@mscott3918
Mandelson was Very slimy,etc.... :( Statistically there are More Millonairres/Billionairres in the Labour party than the Tory party.... :( Mandelson/Tony Blair/Tony Benn,etc,etc.... :(
What is wrong with these documentary makers? They forgot to mention that he was re employed in the cabinet!! Also why would you fire someone for taking out a legal loan??? Really stupid!
Mandelson rejoined the cabinet in October 1999 - so I'm not sure it's a big condemnation of a documentary completed in April 1999 that it failed to mention it. There is more to politics than mere legality; his resignation in December 1998 was more over the image problem when a senior government minister is enormously indebted to another.
21:11 Joy Johnson starts a sentence and Clin Byrne (?) finishes. er, would be better to have the end of Ms Johnson‘s sentence and the beginning of the second one, surely? Bit of editorial license, to say the least... Nice to see Brian Walden, though. Weekend world was a magnificent programme, but I never realised just how leftwing it was, through and through. I don‘t know about David Cox but Aaronovitz, Peter Jay, Mandelson... Walden was brilliant but an ex-Labour MP. People don‘t realise who has been controlling news & current affairs coverage for years
