Peter Benjamin Mandelson
, Baron Mandelson (of Foy in the County of Herefordshire and of Hartlepool in the County of Durham) PC. Known as The Prince of Darkness, The Dark Lord, The Dark Prince, Darth Mandelson … and Mandy. While working hidden behind the scenes, he was largely responsible for his (previously losing) party's landslide victory in 1997, updating its image to appeal to the electorate, and covertly running the campaign from a "tiny office with a three-legged chair, propped up by books". He actually began his involvement at the top level of Labour politics in 1985, during the leadership of Neil Kinnock, but today everyone tends to think about him for what he did during the New Labour era, and always either for better or for worse.
During the period when New Labour was in power under Tony Blair and more briefly Gordon Brown, he always manoeuvred himself into positions of massive influence, simply by not wanting to have the top job. He was forced to resign twice for scandals that he was embroiled in (at least one of Mandelson's colleagues has said that he lost his judgment whenever "in the presence of rich men"), but he was such a useful figure that he ended up coming back.
The second time he resigned, he became among the most powerful men in the EU Commission. When his tenure came to an end, the government brought him back to Britain yet again, and he ran the country behind the scenes, collecting titles and government departments to add to his power. The position he held meant nobody could question his political actions unless he allowed them.
His last title while in government was The Right Honourable the Baron Mandelson of Foy in the County of Herefordshire and of Hartlepool in the County of Durham, First Secretary of State, Lord President of the Privy Council and Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills. This led to Frankie Boyle's memorable remark: "Who made him a Lord, the Sith?!"
He took a seat in the Lords basically because everyone realised that not even Labour's safest constituencies could be relied upon to elect him. Even after his party's eventual third-term defeat in 2010, people are still whispering rumours of his comeback, such is the power of the myth behind the man. And indeed, it was reported in 2021 that he had been appointed to advise Keir Starmer and the Shadow Cabinet on how to win the support of Big Business, in effect re-creating the New Labour coalition.
As of his latest return to government, before the 2010 election, a member of the House of Lords.
Along with the more overtly belligerent Alastair Campbell (a later addition to the team), one of New Labour's most prominent spin doctors. Like Boris Johnson, whom he otherwise does not much resemble, a prime example of Reality Is Unrealistic. Interestingly, Mandelson is also the grandson of Herbert Morrison, a prominent Labour politician who served in Ramsay Mac Donald's National Government in the 1930s, Winston Churchill's War Government of the 1940s, and Clement Attlee's Post-War Government.
Examples of Peter Mandelson in fiction:
- Arguably, his memoir The Third Man in which he manages to write nearly 800 pages about the Blair years without once using the phrase "in the national interest".
- The Deal (2003), a dramatisation of the deal between Blair and Brown that unofficially gave birth to New Labour. Paul Rhys plays Mandelson.
- Mo, the Mo Mowlam biopic starring Julie Walters in the title role; notably, she describes Mandelson (as played by Steven Mackintosh) to his face as a "complete shit".
None is entirely flattering — as pointed out at some length in this review of Mo, which suggests he tends to come out badly by comparison with Judas Iscariot.
Elements of his character appear in not one, not two, but three different characters on The Thick of It, with Malcolm Tucker being a combination of him and Alastair Campbell and Julius Nicholson and Steve Fleming being blends of Mandelson, Andrew Adonis, and John Birt. Malcolm even at one point references the real Mandelson's sexual orientation. "The 'tache is a bit of a giveaway."
Examples of tropes applied to Peter Mandelson in media:
- Adam Westing: The TV ads for his memoirs, if not his entire media persona since his latest return to UK politics.
- Straight Gay
- Vetinari Job Security
See also portrayals on:
- Have I Got News for You.
- Mock the Week, especially this bit.
- Dead Ringers.
- According to Word of God, the Pet Shop Boys' "I Get Along" is Blair/Mandelson Real-Person Fic.
- He's played by Nigel Planer in "The Hunt for Tony Blair", a spoof film from The Comic Strip Presents which frames the major controversies of the Blair government as a 1950s Ealing Studios-style Film Noir.
- The Channel 4 drama Coalition (broadcast 28 March 2015) features Mark Gatiss as Mandelson. His first scene has him appearing through a cloud of dry ice.
