Mandelson's Stormont stop-off
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Tellingly, in amongst much sniping about Mandelson's new house, most of the commentary has been more interested in how his new job will affect his own long-term political career than in how he is likely to influence the peace process
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BY FERN LANE
David Trimble finally got his way on Monday when the appointment of Labour's spin-meister Peter Mandelson as Six-County Secretary of State was announced as part of Tony Blair's cabinet reshuffle.
Trimble, who could barely conceal his satisfaction at the news, managed to pay a grudging tribute to the departing Mo Mowlam only through gritted teeth. He has campaigned long and hard for her removal and has also made no secret of the fact that Mandelson was his preferred choice as replacement. Unionists hope and believe that, being on the right of the Labour Party, Mandelson is likely to be more sympathetic to their view than was Mowlam.
Ken Maginnis was less circumspect than his party leader, saying that there was a ``huge sense of relief'' amongst his party that a ``hard head'' had replaced a ``hasty heart''. If he were really as straight-talking as he would have the world believe, he would have said what he really meant - for ``hard head'' read ``man'' and for ``hasty heart'' read ``woman''.
The Ulster Unionists' friends in the Conservative party were far less enthusiastic, however, fulminating over the appointment with Andrew Mackay denouncing Tony Blair's ``arrogance'' in bringing back former trade secretary Mandelson just ten months after he was forced to resign from the Cabinet over his financial affairs. His undisclosed £373,000 loan from Paymaster General Geoffrey Robinson to buy a London home was investigated by the Labour-dominated Standards and Privileges Committee of the House of Commons but no action was taken against him.
William Hague's speech writers were obviously on overtime, as he opined: ``If Roland Rat were appointed to Northern Ireland, I would tell people to work with him. But I would still point out that he is a rat.''
Despite the open unionist lobbying for Mandelson, and the carefully managed media speculation which has appeared over the past few months, his appointment has been greeted with surprise by most of the media. Tellingly, in amongst much sniping about his new house, most of the commentary has been more interested in how his new job will affect his own long-term political career than in how he is likely to influence the peace process. It has been pointed out that he - as yet - does not have any enemies amongst the political parties, although it could be argued that this is because he has never shown even the slightest interest in events in the north of Ireland and for that reason alone has managed to avoid making any unfortunate or controversial public comment.
The bland proclamations from the steps of Castle Buildings on Tuesday were uttered as if reading from someone else's script and there was little sign of any genuine personal engagement with the issues affecting people's lives. Indeed, there is a real sense that his appointment was made in anticipation of the total collapse of the process, so that neither Mandelson nor the sainted Mo are contaminated by the scent of failure. He immediately slipped into the traditional honest-broker stance, saying that it is ``up to the parties to ensure that the Good Friday Agreement is implemented'', conveniently obscuring the fact that the British government is also party to the Agreement and under obligation to implement those parts for which it has direct responsibility.
The truth is that Peter Mandelson has been given the job simply as an acceptable way of easing his way back into the British cabinet - where he does have enemies - and not because he has any inclination either to do the job for its own sake or because he has any particular personal qualities to bring to it.
Stormont, for all the grandeur and despite the high hopes of Unionists, is merely a stop-off for Mandelson, a means to an end, a way for both he and Blair to engineer his way up the political ladder with as little fuss as possible after what Blair referred to as his ``mistake'' in not being open about his home loan to either Parliament or to his mortgage company.
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