A terrific read, which is gripping from start to finish. Peter Mandleson writes an absorbing account of the New Labour era, with a particular focus on the many tribulations (and occasional upsides) of working so closely alongside the disastrous Blair - Brown pairing. The book is well written and as you'd expect does present Mandleson in a sympathetic tone. As an individual he comes across intelligent, erudite, and good company, and leaves the reader hoping that he will publish more insights into this period of British politics. ( )

http://www.casperdenck.com/2012/07/09/short-review-peter-mandelson-the-third-man... ( )

Peter Mandelson's autobiography, The Third Man, is a fantastic piece of insider insight into the decade of Labour government in the 1990s and 2000s. Mandelson's work is extremely personal and focuses on the big personalities in the political world he inhabits. Mandelson writes in a completely different style to the other major players of New Labour, his work is about the people not necessarily the policy, it is about the friendships and fights rather than the vision and the glory. Mandelson is utterly forthright about his sour relationship with Gordon Brown and his disappointment in a government that ultimately featured many missed opportunities. Like him or not, Mandelson's work is a gripping read for those interested in political gossip. Third Man may miss the glaringly obvious weakness Mandelson was at the heart of creating in New Labour by putting personality politics at the heart of the brand but it is a detailed and seemingly heartfelt account of Mandelson's time and a fascinating read.

The Third Man is of course a legendary creation of Graham Greene. The Third Man in Greene's masterpiece is the shadowy figure responsible for the travails the more visible cast find themselves facing. Mandelson's choice of title is self-deprecating, it pictures him as he was known for much of his career but not necessarily the image he held at the end. As the arch-deacon of spin, Mandelson had a dark and unpleasant image for a very long time so it is fascinating to hear his side of the story. It is especially facinating to read how for all his strategic brilliance, he did so little to forsee or later deal with the bullying of Gordon Brown.

Much of Third Man revolves around Brown. Mandelson attacks Brown's actions repeatedly through his book. Some might side with Brown but those who had any experience of him personally or the cast of monsters he surrounded himself with including Damian McBride, Charlie Whelan, and Shriti Vadera will find much of Mandelson's criticism to ring entirely true.

Mandelson comes from proud Labout stock. He speaks with clear affection of his familial heritage right at the heart of the Labour movement as it reconstructed Britain after WWII. Mandelson's family story and background rightly does not take up much of the tale but it is cleverly woven into the narrative as a means of demonstrating his traditionalist values even as he himself was key to changing the aspirations of the Labour party. Mandelson's personal story of finding radicalism early, going to Oxford and hating the student politicians, not paying enough attention in tutorials and failing his first year of PPE at Catz rounds out his personality in a way that this reviewer can closely associate with.

Mandelson's political tale starts in London during the Thatcher era. This was a time that most in Labour look back on with horror but Thatcher was massively more popular than her equally radical foes on the left. Mandelson's short stint in local politics seems quite amusing and by his own words he never seemed likely to last there. How he parlayed his early position into finding his way to the heart of the Labour campaign machine is not really clear. Mandelson climbed the ladder very quickly and his jumping from position to position is described as being the result of various personal relationships he struck. That does not seem enough to tell the whole story. Mandelson may well be a champion networker but it seems likely that his family's earlier role in the Labour party must have had at least something to do with his rapid ascent.

Once inside the central Labour machine, Mandelson's story picks up the detail of hopes, aspirations, meetings, rivalries, and ambition. Mandelson's current image sees him as a man without ambition, seeking to do what is best. It is a clever image and he is clearly a superlative creator of personality concept. Still, Mandelson's forthrightness about those around him is great to read. His appreciation for those he likes comes through strongly and his sniping at those he does not like is continual.

While the build-up through the 80s and 90s to electoral respectabilty is great for those of us who appreciate the finery of politics, mostly Mandelson's story is the story of Gordon Brown and Tony Blair. Mandelson was never really publicly acknowledged as being an equal partner to those two but he sees himself as being right there with them all the way. The triumverate did not work. It mostly did not work because Blair usurped Brown's claim for leadership after John Smith passed away. For someone with apparently such an acute sense of personalities, Mandelson completely failed to see the inevitable wreck. It may have made sense for Blair to take on the leadership instead of Brown because Blair was far more consumate a politican but that action and then over a decade of failing to deal with the consequences damaged the New Labour project perhaps beyond repair.

Mandelson's own career looked beyond repair more than once while in government. He sets out his side of the story for both times he was fired. His defence of the first case seems credible though he clearly was given ample opportunity to avoid the problem. His issue was greed but Mandelson does not acknowledge this. He took a loan beyond that which ordinary folk would have been provided because he wanted to jump up the property ladder. While Mandelson owns up to the letter of his mistake, he does not really look too hard at why someone like him would seek to separate himself from the rest of us who struggle to make enough money to buy a nice place to live. Mandelson's second firing looked strange at the time and his retelling of the events does not cast many others in a good light. Alaistair Campbell and Tony Blair both got it wrong and there was never really the pressure for Mandelson to resign that they seem to have felt. In a career punctuated by huge alls from grace, it is always interesting to read the other side of the story.

Mandelson's book is somewhat light on Iraq and Afghanistan. These pieces of the New Labour history take up remarkably few words from Mandelson. Perhaps this was because he had little to do with either war so didn't have much to say or perhaps it was because he is seeking to distance himself personally. The only real Iraq reference is the death of David Kelly. It was a horrible occurence but Mandelson provides the detail of the actions of those who were affected, most specifically Alastair Campbell. Kelly's death was a personal tragedy but Mandelson's story is about the implications which is the right angle to cover in this instance. The spat between Campbell and the BBC caused resignations on both sides and it also spoke to the problems with the message control approach of New Labour.

Probably the biggest gap in Third Man is that the approach Mandelson was crucial in creating for New Labour was also the undoing of the government. Mandelson emphasises leadership throughout. It is the personification of the message that matters not necessarily the message itself. Kinnock was the right man apparently to fight Militant but he was the wrong man to take Labour into power. The personality politics Mandelson promoted worked with Blair who despite what revisionists believe now was extraordinarily popular in the mid 1990s. It certainly did not work with Brown because he was never truly likeable even for those who never met him. The leaders debate before the 2010 elections were a terrible idea and Mandelson does not realise it.

The leadership debates were a terrible idea because they cemented the idea that a party is its leader. A parliamentary system is not about one person in the way a presidential system is. Mandelson has damaged British politics because of his promotion of a personality over substance. The debates should have been a series with the team on display so a chancellor's debate, a foreign minister's debate, a health minister's debate etc. Instead, what we got was the idea that the British public was offered the chance to vote for one of three people. That Mandelson's approach was part of the collapse of New Labour seems to have passed him by. Brown was never up to this approach and a more collegiate way of doing business may have prevented the schism between Brown and Blair in the first place.

What is absolutely fascinating though is the detail of the Labour government's perspective on the coalition talks post-election. Mandelson in part blames the relationship between Brown and Clegg but this was a failure of strategy. The Conservatives simply out-competed Labour in offering the LibDems a coherent coalition package to buy. Mandelson's personalised approach means he misses the moves that were being made during that negotiation phase. Nevertheless, the tale of those talks from Mandelson's perspective if fascinating.

It is also good to read forthright views more generally. Mandelson just about shies away from calling out Cathy Ashton as useless but he clearly implies that Ashton should never have been given the post she has failed to do anything at all with as Europe's High Representative. The brief sojourn for Mandelson into Europe is given a much more positive spin than anything on the home front. Perhaps this is because he sees possibility in his securing another position outside of Britain and still needs the support of Eurocrats.

One position that Mandelson held outside of Britain was Nothern Ireland Secretary. New Labour's achievements in building on the good work in the previous government in moving towards peace is forgotten by those critics with short memories. Mandelson's description of his time there adds greatly to the historical record and his is a much more sympathetic view of David Trimble than for Blair's view of Trimble. The pressure on Trimble must have been tremendous given that his policies eventually caused his party to fall from pre-eminence in Northern Ireland. Being there at the time, Mandelson must have seen that pressure and his detail is nice behind the scenes information.

As a contribution to the historical record, Mandelson's work is great. It is about the personalities and the gossip more than it is about the grand strategy. The epilogue about what Labour should do next is very weak. Coming before Ed Miliband's assumption of Labour's leadership, it is paper thin and offers no real insight. However, the insight is definitely there for the long road back to power in the 1980s and 1990s as well as giving Mandelson's perspective on the years in power. It is more popular to hear from those not quite on the inside who can provide assumptions about what motivated those on the inside but it is more fascinating to hear from Mandelson. ( )

An interesting read into the rise and fall of 'New Labour'. You also get an insight into why the Labour Party lost four consecutive general elections prior to 1997. Worth a read if you like politics. ( )

The trials and tribulations of life inside New Labour are now so well known now, particularly after the Campbell diaries and the recent Rawnsley book, that you'd think there isn't much more to say. The truth is, there isn't; but Mandelson, from his unique position of being a part of the triumvirate that built New Labour offers detailed insights into the relationship between Blair and Brown; the truth is, it seems to have been far worse, for far longer, than anyone on the outside realised at the time. A harsh critic would say Mandelson's account is tinged with arrogance, but in reality he was at the very heart of the events he describes and it comes over as a genuine account of New Labour from his perspective. He isn't afraid to be self-critical, and the occasional flashes of humour make this well worth reading. But, if you've recently read any of the other recent books on New Labour, perhaps leave a little time before embarking on this if you wish to avoid feeling like you've heard much of it before. ( )