In politics, Peter Mandelson and Roger Liddle explain for the benefit of their less worldly-wise readers, 'getting your way can require a degree of intrigue and manoeuvring.' The straight-dealing Tony Blair would, they say, prefer that this was unnecessary and does not really 'enjoy the modus operandi'. How very fortunate the Labour leader is, then, to be able to count on the services of one whose name has become a byword for political manipulation and deviousness. 'Nobody has brought more professional skill to the debasement of British public life than you,' Michael Heseltine recently taunted Mandelson, who beamed back appreciatively.

LRB 18 April 1996 | PDF Download