Lord Mandelson, normally the self-assured, confident one, of the Labour Party, went and blew his top with those business leaders who sided with the Conservatives over the National Insurance increases.
Of course, it must frustrate the good Lord that he could soon lose his lofty status amongst the great and good, although one gets the sneaking suspicion that if anyone is going to rise from the ashes of defeat, it will be him.
Peter Mandelson has done much to be admired to keep Labour afloat in recent months and Gordon Brown has him to thank for his continued survival as Prime Minister. He generally likes to be on the winning side, so it must be painful to realise that perhaps the end his nigh for the Labour government and, with it, the end of the New Labour Party which he virtually founded and helped secure three general election victories.
The sadness of Labour is that it came in on a wave of optimism and goodwill, which it then promptly discarded with levels of personal greed, spite and high-living, that would not have shamed a member of the Politburo in the old Soviet Union. One of its' number even decided that he was so powerful and Godlike that he could fool the country into going to war with his old friend George W. Bush.
Labour could still win the election, although the business leaders who have come out in support of David Cameron, obviously think not. Captains of industry like to back those they believe will hold the power strings, so the Conservatives have it!
And what will happen to Labour if defeated? Well, Gordon will go, the bloodbath will begin, the party will re-establish its' lefty roots and a very long period in opposition will follow. Is it possible that, in the turmoil following defeat, Labour could be so badly damaged that the LibDems overtake it?
As for Lord Mandelson? He'll carry on regardless. In power or close enough to it.
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