Thought I’d get into the Ghost writing business –
Comment at end
13th April 2010
Lord Mandelson had to show some dexterity with language the other day while launching the rest of Tony Blair’s would-have-been manifesto. (Hear his ‘Blair plus‘ interview here.)
I’m not sure that Blair-Minus, aka Gordon would have been too excited at this.
James Purnell, Blairite (unless he’s now Blair-plus Gordon) says this here at Progressives.
Excerpt, Purnell: “I’d sum it up as being as bold about public service reform as it is about market reform. There’s a good case that can be made that in places it’s going further than Tony Blair would have done. More academies than Tony Blair promised. All hospitals to be foundation trusts.Taking over failing police forces.”
Er, “a good case … further than Tony Blair would have done”?
Come now, Mr Purnell, we weren’t born yesterday, even if some of us behave as though we were.
It’s dull as dishwater compared to what Tony Blair would have done and you know it.
BBC coverage of Labour’s manifesto
BLAIR SITTING ON MANDY’S SHOULDERS?
Iain Martin here and the Daily Mirror’s James Lyon have wild imaginations and short memories.
Gordon Brown, at the last cabinet meeting attended by Blair said this to the justly tearful and fearful:
“Whatever we achieve in the future will be because we are standing on your shoulders.”
Brown, on that occasion, was right.
A more useful contribution here, though, from Iain Martin on Brown and Labour and their “press as enemies” approach:
Excerpt:
“If you were in the audience, perhaps it gave you a thrill: hitting back and lashing out in ways that Tony Blair taught his party would only make it look mean-spirited in the eyes of floating voters.”
Blair, as on most occasions, was right.
RELATED AND ETCETERA
1. The Ghost Writer now playing in New York
2. Tony Blair had to stop fight after Mandelson lunged at Campbell
3. Headed something to do with loudmouthed idiot Jeremy Clarkson and his recent banning by The Times, the true-blue blogger who calls himself ‘Archbishop Cramner’ quotes this, without criticism of Clarkson’s, via Tory Bear.
Clarkson: “I’ve given the matter a great deal of thought all week, and I’m afraid I’ve decided that it’s no good putting Peter Mandelson in a prison. I’m afraid he will have to be tied to the front of a van and driven round the country until he isn’t alive any more.”
“Around the country”, Mr Clarkson?
Your Grace, a couple of hundreds yards should do the trick. From your moral high-horse you might at least have pointed that out to the motor brain.
4. The Spoof: GW Bush on Tony Blair – “I did not have sex with that man”
Excerpt: ‘Today, at a press conference at the Crawford Ranch, former president Bush denied allegations of sleeping with Tony Blair, stating, “I did not have sex with that man.” The statement follows Tony Blair being brought up on charges in the U.K. Former president Bush also denied allegations that he and Tony Blair are engaged.
“Now why would I want to be engaged to someone who isn’t powerful enough to keep from being charged?’
All Links to ‘The Trial of Tony Blair’ posts
Tags: Archbishop Cramner, Blair plus, George W Bush, Gordon Brown, I did not have sex with that man, Iain Martin, James Lyon, James Purnell, Jeremy Clarkson, Labour's manifesto, Lord Peter Mandelson, The Spoof, Tony Blair
Tony Blair 
April 15, 2010 at 12:31 am |
[…] and his true feelings showed. Except for two little things. Firstly, that Lord Mandelson said this the other day too. Secondly that little – very little passes the Mandelson lips without due care and […]