Zombie Mandelson to return to government

[muriel_volestrangler]

EU Trade Commissioner Peter Mandelson is to return to the government, as Gordon Brown reshuffles his cabinet.
...
He is no longer an MP but will be given a seat in the Lords, possibly with the business and enterprise portfolio.

Business Secretary John Hutton will replace Des Browne at Defence and Geoff Hoon will replace Ruth Kelly as Transport Secretary.

Former foreign secretary Margaret Beckett is also tipped to return to the cabinet, possibly in a "cabinet enforcer" role while former cabinet minister Nick Brown is also expected to return as chief whip, to replace Mr Hoon.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk_politics/7650013.stm

It's the Cabinet of the Living Dead ...

Geoff Hoon as transport secretary? I recommend investing in a good pair of shoes, because roads, rail and air are all going to be in chaos in a few months.

[Nihil]

1. Ye Gods ... where's Van Helsing when you need him?

Can someone please put a sharpened stake through that bugger a.s.a.p.?

Who's next? Is Brown going to dig up the criminal Vaz?

How about bringing Ruth Sodding Kelly back as minister for nutcases
(and as a form of parole for her family)?

:banghead:

[T_i_B]

2. Would he be replacing be Digby Jones?

If so then it would be interesting to see who you lot think is worse.

I have to confess that I did by and large agree with the below article by Mandleson in today's Grauniad but decided against posting it on DU it as it's from Mandelson, who is a bit slimey when all is said and done.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2008/oct/03/globalisation.globaleconomy

[muriel_volestrangler]

3. I read it as him replacing John Hutton, Jones' boss in the dept (on edit: reaction to the piece)

while Hutton moves to Defence. I haven't read the Mandelson piece - I'll take a look now. Sometimes he can write a good case for something, but, as you say, 'slimy' just seems to be part of his personality - hence having to resign twice from the cabinet.

OK, I've read it - yes, I broadly agree with it - but I know I'm far more internationalist than the vast majority of DUers (certainly the American ones - those of us from elsewhere are a bit of a self-selecting group - by joining an American forum, we're somewhat internationalist by definition). I doubt it'd get a great reception on the main forums. You'd get comments about 'world government' and even 'new world order' very quickly, I fear.

[T_i_B]

4. That's the real problem

He's been forced to resign twice from the cabinet, and Brown really cannot afford another embarrassing Mandelson scandal breaking out. He's certainly not what I would have recommended and getting him back in the cabinet is hardly going to convince anybody that Labour is changing from it's bad habits.

On the other hand, maybe he'll be more inclined towards introducing a windfall tax? You never know.

[emad]

5. Booting Ian Blair out of the Met top job a vital prerequisite of this comeback.

Mandelson's tenure of the Northern Ireland office was held in deep disgust by many up and coming senior police commanders after the 1997 general election win.

I guess Gordon Brown had to wait until Ian Blair's position in the Met was untenable before agreeing to yet another reincarnation of Mandelson's massive, flawed ego.

[Mr Creosote]

6. What next?

Is it worth digging up John Stonehouse do you think?

[vinylsolution]

7. ALways gtta have the Bilderbergers....

... close to the reins of power. That's how western politics apparently 'works'.

Mandelson - like El Caudillo (Michael Portillo) - never goes away. *sigh*

Where's Nosher Powell when we need him?

[T_i_B]

8. And it could still get worse

I know it's the Mail on Sunday, but if this is true and Blunkett returns to office then there is no way on this planet that this DUer will be voing Labour.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1068766/Blunkett-set-return-Cabinet-Mandy-wrecks-Milibands-leadership-bid.html

Gordon Brown plans to bring David Blunkett back into the Cabinet in another dramatic bid to revive Labour's political fortunes.

The Prime Minister is considering a recall for the former Home Secretary – who, like Peter Mandelson, has been forced to resign from the Cabinet twice – as part of a second ministerial shake-up in the New Year.

Mr Brown's allies said the Prime Minister was convinced he had made the right decision in appointing Mr Mandelson as Business Secretary, and was prepared to make further bold changes to the Government line-up.

Most significantly, they said he was considering finding a way to give a senior Government post to Mr Blunkett, despite his chequered past.

[LeftishBrit]

9. Ugghhh!!!

I haven't voted Labour since Blair became the party leader (fortunately I have a good LibDem MP) and certainly won't if Blunkett gets back into the government. For no other reason than that he's incredibly RIGHT WING. Portillo once said that Blunkett was 'too right wing for him'! He was one of our worst and most RW Education Secretaries of recent times - including some of the Tories- and almost out-Howarded Howard as Home Secretary.

[muriel_volestrangler]

10. Chicken Yoghurt points out Mandelson lied about his mortgage

and lying about mortgages is a large part of why we're in the current mess:

Mandelson: setting a thief to catch a thief?

Or is ‘poacher turned gamekeeper’ the cliché we’re looking for here? I only ask because Mandelson’s apparently been rehabilitated to help clear up the wreckage of the credit crunch - a mess caused largely by moody mortgages. Who better to do that that a man who lied on his mortgage application?

http://www.chickyog.net/2008/10/05/mandelson-setting-a-thief-to-catch-a-thief/

[non sociopath skin]

11. Hail, hail the gang's all here!

I have watched the reshuffle with growing anger and disbelief.

"Vote NuLab for a better yesterday," eh?

It's as if the banking crisis had never happened. All the old favourites back so the Fat Cats will know that, whether the real Tories or the ersatz Tories get in next time, they have permission to continue screwing all of us over in return for Generous Cocktails for the party coffers.

Nasty little politicianses. We hates it, my precioussss ...

:banghead: :banghead: :banghead: :puke: :puke: :puke: :eyes: :eyes: :eyes:

The Skin

[muriel_volestrangler]

12. And then there was ... Alastair Campbell!

Old hatchets buried as Labour puts 'the band back together'

Alastair Campbell is expected to play a key role in Labour's campaign for both European and county council elections in June which may decide whether Gordon Brown leads the party into the general election.

Tony Blair's former director of communications will link up with Peter Mandelson, the new Business Secretary, and Douglas Alexander, Labour's campaign co-ordinator – recreating a team that worked with Gordon Brown and Tony Blair at the 2001 election.

Mr Campbell will almost certainly play a central role in Labour's campaign for the general election, expected in the spring of 2010. But he has rebuffed attempts by Mr Brown to persuade him to return to a full-time post in Downing Street. The Prime Minister is expected to recruit someone else as his director of communications.

Mr Campbell says he is in no hurry to return to No 10 and does not want to "give up having a life". However, he says he is happy to help Labour when it needs him. This summer, he played an important role in the decision by prominent Blairites to rally behind Mr Brown. He launched a campaign for Labour to win a fourth term under Mr Brown to counteract calls by backbenchers for the PM to face a leadership contest.

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/politics/old-hatchets-buried-as-labour-puts-the-band-back-together-953500.html