Mandelson ‘ran worst Labour campaign ever’

There was never any chance of Lord (Peter) Mandelson putting out his memoirs without a backlash - and we already have one. Charlie Whelan, one of Gordon Brown's most local acolytes, has accused Mandelson of putting his book first and the party second during the recent Labour election campaign, of which he was in charge.

"Peter ran the worst general campaign in Labour's history," Whelan told the Sunday Telegraph. "Nobody knew what the message was at all. It was a disaster from beginning to end."

Whelan's complaint is that Mandelson took his eye of the ball. "Peter wasn't focused on the campaign at all," he said. "Clearly, his only thoughts were for his book."

Whelan was responding to a comment made by Mandelson on Saturday in an interview with the Times, who are serialising his book, The Third Man.

Mandelson claimed Brown "was very badly served" by his aides. "The unbridled contempt that some people around Gordon had for Tony and those who worked for him was very destructive," he said. "They were constantly winding him up ­ partly because that's what they felt, partly because that's what they thought he wanted to hear."

The Third Man is also understood to have annoyed Mandelson's former boss, Tony Blair - not so much because of the content, but because of the timing. By rushing into print, he is taking attention away from Blair's own memoir, due to be published in September.

Mandelson's excuse is that he wanted to get his book out of the way before the Labour party conference this autumn, and the election of a new party leader.
 
"I think that whoever is elected will prefer to be able to draw lessons from my book while thinking about the future," he said, "rather than face having my book published after he's become leader and being dragged back into the past." ·