Peter Mandelson as new EU trade commissioner!

[sweetheart]

Mandelson takes EU trade job

Ex-cabinet minister Peter Mandelson was today appointed as the EU's next trade commissioner.
His appointment was announced by the commission's president-elect, Jose Manuel Barosso, in Brussels.

Mr Mandelson will take up his post on November 1, subject to the whole commission being approved by the European parliament.

http://politics.guardian.co.uk/eu/story/0,9061,1281829,00.html

He's got more lives than a cat! Despite his controversial flair, he's
one of the few "big brains" in labour and TB would not be PM without
him.Go for it Mr. Mandelson. You will do us all proud.

[LeftishBrit]

1. I can't stand him, I'm afraid

I think he's a slimy, Thatcherite-with-spin, right-winger; and I don't have too many hopes of his doing a good job in the EU.

[sweetheart]

3. but at least he has brain cells

The concern i have is that the blairiites seem to kill off anyone
with character and brains who does not lie very low low in the grass..
lower than a snakes ass.

So they've beheaded, mandelson several times, claire short, robin
cook, (that lady with chemotherapy) and others who seemed to have hearts and really believed in the power of government to do justice.

Instead, they are all mounted on stakes outside the castle gate
whilst one has his head sewn back on to be sent to bruxelles.

Peter Mandelson has this one golden opportunity to go beyond spin
and achieve some results. Whether i like him is no longer relevant.
He IS in charge. He is GAY, which gives him an understanding of
the culture of repression of minorities. He has some big family
history to live up to politically, that thus far he has not...

I hope he lives his dream and shows all his naysayers up. He did
not lie and start a war to kill thousands. His deceptions seem
more benign... and its all history. Peter, go for it.

[D-Notice]

4. (that lady with chemotherapy)

Mo Molam?

[sweetheart]

5. Yes Mo Molam

I really think she's cool. I wish Mr. Blair had advisors of
her balance to temper his puritanical interventionism.

[LeftishBrit]

6. Mo Mowlam is probably my favourite recent cabinet minister!

I really like her. I also like Robin Cook for his stance on Iraq; and Clare Short for her independence, even though I think she should have resigned earlier. And I certainly agree about Blair getting rid of all the independent decent people, just as Thatcher did before him. I would add Estelle Morris to your list; she was our best Education Secretary in over 20 years, not that the competition has been huge.

As regards Mandelson: I do think that the pretexts on which he was made to resign were somewhat flimsy. I just don't like him as an individual, or for his influence on recent politics. Yes, being gay should make him sensitive to the needs of minorities or disadvantaged people; but then so should coming from a poor background (Tebbitt) or having a disability (Blunkett) or for that matter being a woman at time when there were very few women in politics (Thatcher). On the whole, those who have known disadvantage themselves are more sympathetic to others who are disadvantaged - but evidently not always!

[D-Notice]

7. The ones you've listed show...

That the more disadvantaged they are, the more authoritaian they are...

Are they trying to take out their problems on others?

[sweetheart]

8. good point but it don't explain tony.

The labour party has changed its name to model its new authoritarian
views. It is now the "tory party".

The libdems are now the "labour party"

The greens are now the "liberal democrats"

The torys are now the "right wing nutter party"

This rightward shift is the cause of the authoritarian asswipes.

Its too bad there's no libertarian party in britain.

[billyskank]

2. You may vomit now.

Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaargh!

[T_i_B]

9. Mandelson to be anti-Euro target

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2004/09/04/nmand04.xml&sSheet=/portal/2004/09/04/ixportal.html

Vote No, the campaign against the new European constitution, will be relaunched this month with an advertising campaign attacking Peter Mandelson.

Organisers believe the unpopularity of the Hartlepool MP, who will shortly take up his post as a European commissioner, makes him a "perfect face" for its posters.

In its first marketing blitz since the constitution was agreed in the summer, Vote No is to stage a relaunch to coincide with the Labour Party conference. Neil O'Brien, Vote No's campaign director said: "A lot of the constitution is quite boring stuff, which makes it difficult for people to get a handle on. That's why we need to make it interesting."

He said the adverts were going to feature Mr Mandelson, a passionate pro-European, because Vote No believed that his unpopularity could galvanise opposition to the constitution.

[non sociopath skin]

10. The bad news is....

... they may well be right. A controversial figure like Mandelson will galvanise the loony right while failing to inspire pro-European progressives.

Whatever Mandelson's merits as a politician and organiser, I think that Blair got this one badly wrong.

The Skin