Rory bremner peter mandelson biography

As director, he was one of the first people in Britain to whom the term " spin doctor " was applied; he was thus called "the Prince of Darkness". For the general election campaign, Mandelson commissioned film director Hugh Hudsonwhose Chariots of Fire had won an Oscar as Best Pictureto make a party political broadcast promoting Neil Kinnock as a potential prime minister.

Opponents termed the Labour Party's election campaign "a brilliantly successful election defeat". Mandelson was first elected to the House of Commons at the general election[ 31 ] and made several speeches outlining his strong support for the European Union. Although sidelined during the brief period when John Smith led the Labour Party, Mandelson was by now close to two Shadow Cabinet members — Gordon Brown and Tony Blair — each regarded as potential future party leaders.

Following Smith's sudden death on 12 MayMandelson opted to back Blair for the leadership, believing him a superior communicator to Brown, [ 32 ] and played a leading role in the leadership campaign. This created acrimony between Mandelson and Brown, though they were considered to be allies in the Labour Party. InKate Garvey suggested that Mandelson who was at the time being derided by the trades unions and other Labour factionsshould adopt a nom de guerre throughout Blair's leadership bid, so that he might conceal his considerable role within the campaign team.

Mandelson agreed to be called "Bobby" for the duration and was thanked by Blair using this pseudonym in his victory speech. Mandelson was appointed as a Minister without Portfolio in the Cabinet Officewhere his job was to co-ordinate within government. A few months later, he also acquired responsibility for the Millennium Domeafter Blair decided to go ahead with the project despite the opposition of most of the Cabinet including the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport who had been running it.

Jennie Pagethe Dome project's chief executive, was abruptly sacked after a farcical opening night. He also appointed a " Net Tsar" to lead the UK in what he termed the "new industrial revolution". He had not declared the loan in the Register of Members' Interests and resigned in December Mandelson was out of the Cabinet for ten months.

In his very first speech in the post he mistakenly referred to himself as the "Secretary of State for Ireland". On 24 JanuaryMandelson resigned from the Government for a rory bremner peter mandelson biography time, following accusations of using his position to influence a passport application. At the time Hinduja and his brothers were under investigation by the Indian Government for alleged involvement in the Bofors scandal.

Mandelson insisted he had done nothing wrong and was exonerated by an independent inquiry by Sir Anthony Hammondwhich concluded that neither Mandelson nor anyone else had acted improperly. At the general election Mandelson was challenged by Arthur Scargill of the Socialist Labour Party and by John Booth, a former Labour Party press officer standing as "Genuine Labour", [ 48 ] but Mandelson was re-elected with a large majority.

Well, they underestimated Hartlepool and they underestimated me because I am a fighter and not a quitter. Despite Labour success at the June general election, a third Cabinet appointment did not materialise and Mandelson indicated his interest in becoming the United Kingdom's European Commissioner when the new Commission was established in Appointment as a European Commissioner would require his resignation from Parliament, precipitating a by-election in his Hartlepool constituency.

His EC appointment was announced in the summer and on 8 September Mandelson resigned his seat by petitioning to become Steward of the Manor of Northstead. It was claimed by Christopher Hope of The Daily Telegraph in that Mandelson's pension was contingent on a "duty of loyalty to the Communities", which also applied after his term in office.

The website Full Fact reported in that the claim was untrue, stating that while there are rules governing the conduct of current and former EU staff members, which can lead to pensions sanctions, the European Commission had informed them that it would be "probably impossible" for such people to lose their pension for criticising the EU or supporting Brexit.

On 3 Octoberas part of Gordon Brown 's Cabinet reshuffle it was announced, amid some controversy, [ 56 ] [ 57 ] that Mandelson would return to Government in the re-designated post of Business Secretary and would be raised to the peerage[ 58 ] thus becoming a member of the House of Lords. The protester was cautioned on 9 April for causing "harassment, alarm or distress".

In a Cabinet reshuffle on 5 June Mandelson was appointed Lord President of the Council with the honorary title of First Secretary of State ; [ 66 ] it was also announced that the Department for Innovation, Universities and Skills would be merged into his, affording him the new title of Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills and that he would continue as President of the Board of Trade.

In AugustMandelson was widely reported to have ordered "technical measures" such as internet disconnection to be included in the draft of the Digital Economy Act after a "big lobbying operation", even though the Digital Britain report had rejected this type of punishment. Mandelson's spokesperson claimed that there had been no discussion of internet piracy during the Corfu dinner and suggested that the decision to reverse Lord Carter's findings had been taken in late July before the trip.

The Times reported after the Corfu meeting that an unnamed Whitehall source had confirmed that before this rory bremner peter mandelson biography, Mandelson had shown little personal interest in the Digital Britain agenda, which has been ongoing for several years. According to the source of The TimesMandelson returned from holiday and effectively issued an edict that the regulation needed to be tougher.

In Augusta Freedom of Information FOI request showed that Mandelson had decided to approve the inclusion of technical measures, such as the disconnection of internet access, at least two months before public consultation had finished and that he had shown little interest in the consultation. Letters from Mandelson's office document talks with Lucian GraingeCEO of Universal Music Groupon 2 June and that on the following day Mandelson advised Lord Carter about the "possibility of [the Secretary of State] having a power to direct OfCom to go directly to introduce technical measures".

Mandelson made the formal announcement that technical measures, including disconnection, were to be included in the Digital Economy Bill two months later on 7 August An opinion poll conducted by the centre-left think tank Compass found in March that Mandelson was less disliked by Labour Party members than Deputy Leader Harriet Harman. This was felt to be unusual as Mandelson "historically has been unpopular among Labour members".

Mandelson has been criticised for so far not disclosing his clients. In,, andMandelson was an invited guest of the Bilderberg Group and attended the annual conferences. In APP was accused of illegal logging in Indonesia and damaging the habitats of rare animals such as the Sumatran tiger. After the Labour leadership election resulted in Jeremy Corbyn becoming the party leaderMandelson stated that he believed that Labour was now unelectable, but advised party members unhappy with the situation to wait for Corbyn to demonstrate this before working to replace him.

After the results of the UK general election became known, Mandelson conceded that Corbyn's election campaign was "very sure-footed" and the result, in which Labour gained seats and denied the Conservatives a majority, unexpected. During the EU referendumMandelson sat on the board on Britain Stronger in Europethe official "Remain" campaign, which was unsuccessful.

He proceeded to lobby governments around the world for the role, [ ] arguing that the WTO had "reached a fork in the road" and had to be "picked up and put back on its feet". Init was reported that Mandelson had been advising Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer on moving the party beyond Corbyn's leadership and broadening its electoral appeal. Contesting the University of Oxford Chancellor electionLord Mandelson finished fourth out of thirty-eight candidates, which Lord Hague won.

He is expected to take up the role at the start of the Trump presidency in January Chris LaCivitaan adviser to the incoming US President, said Mandelson "should stay home" and called him "an absolute moron". Mandelson had previously described President Donald Trump as "little short of a white nationalist and racist," "reckless and a danger to the world" and likened him to "a bully ".

All claims made were reasonable and submitted consistent with parliamentary rules.

Rory bremner peter mandelson biography

During the summer ofMandelson had a widely publicised disagreement with Nicolas SarkozyPresident of France. Mandelson said his position at world trade talks had been undermined and told the BBC he did not start the row, saying, "I stood up for myself, I'm not to be bullied. At this time, melamine added to milk in China had caused kidney stones and other ailments in thousands of Chinese children, killing at least six.

Ironically, during the previous week Mandelson had drunk a glass of Chinese yoghurt in front of reporters in order to show his confidence in Chinese dairy products, although his own kidney stones were unrelated. In October Mandelson was reported to have maintained private contacts over several years with Russian oligarch Oleg Deripaskamost recently on holiday in August on Deripaska's yacht at Taverna Agni on the Greek island of Corfu.

In Junewriting for the Progress websiteMandelson warned Labour it risked harming its election chances if affiliated trade unions continued to "manipulate parliamentary selections" as was alleged in the Labour Party Falkirk candidate selection controversy. Guest of honour in at Herbert Morrison Primary School in VauxhallSouth Londonwhich was hosting a special themed day in honour of Mandelson's grandfatherafter whom the school was named, [ ] in April Lord Mandelson was appointed Chancellor of Manchester Metropolitan Universityits ceremonial head.

Mandelson is gay and said to be "intensely private" about his personal life. While his sexual orientation was known to friends, colleagues and constituents, in the News of the World ran an issue that attempted to out Mandelson as gay. An internal investigation later found that the photos had been obtained without Avila da Silva's consent and images of him attempting to cover his face had been secretly deleted.

Mandelson phoned the BBC and the Press Complaints Commission following Newsnight 's broadcast, [ ] and an internal memo was later sent within the BBC, stating: "under no circumstances whatsoever should allegations about the private life of Peter Mandelson be repeated or referred to on any broadcast. Contents move to sidebar hide. Article Talk.

Read Edit View history. Tools Tools. Download as PDF Printable version. In other projects. Wikimedia Commons Wikinews Wikiquote Wikidata item. British politician and life peer born For other people, see Mandelson surname. The Right Honourable. However, Week Ending was a natural home and there he met John Langdonan industrious writer who became the right hand man on all his future projects.

It was a version of Paul Hardcastle's Vietnam song rewritten for cricket commentators, all expertly evoked by Bremner. His trademark stand-up sets were established rory bremner peter mandelson biography, co-written with Langdon and performed in front of a studio audience. They bookended a vibrant mix of sketches, generally written and performed by the supporting cast.

The series won Special Mention by the Montreux jury in Rory Bremner's eponymous BBC2 series saw a gradual shift in emphasis from light entertainment targets. Tessa Campbell Fraser. Early life [ edit ]. Career [ edit ]. Recognition [ edit ]. Political views [ edit ]. Personal life [ edit ]. References [ edit ]. Archived from the original on 20 March Retrieved 2 February The Stage.

The Independent. Scottish Opera. Archived from the original on 6 March Retrieved 1 April Start the Week podcast. Archived from the original on 17 March Retrieved 25 November Archived from the original on 10 December Retrieved 16 March BBC News. British Broadcasting Corporation. Retrieved 6 September BBC Media Centre. In Bremner received the James Joyce Award of the Literary and Historical Society — an award from Dublin College University for those who have achieved outstanding success in their given field.

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