Sucking up to yourself

I think it may have been Matthew Parris who said about Peter Mandelson that all quotes made about him by ‘friends’, ‘colleagues’ and ‘people close to him’ were actually made by Mandelson himself.   Since reading that, I find all articles about Mandelson wonderfully funny.  Have a look at Rachel Sylvester’s excellent article in the Times (and on a side-note, should anyone be surprised that the Barclays are now eviscerating Sark?  After all, they’ve already eviscerated the Telegraph):

The man who was once described affectionately by his own aides as the “sinister minister” is said by some to be the “real Deputy Prime Minister” who is always hopping into No 10

Definitely Mandelson.

Ministers describe him as a “dominant force” in any meeting he attends.

Yup.

“Peter's been around with Gordon for a long time and there's a sense that they are equals,” a Cabinet minister says. “Peter didn't ask for this, he wants nothing.”

And again.

In the Lords, he has charmed the tea ladies and the doormen as well as the Members. “They all swoon when he comes in,” one peer says. “He could have been born to enter this place, he's a natural Lord.”

A bit obvious perhaps?

One member of the Cabinet tells colleagues only half in jest there is something “homoerotic” about how the British political class is obsessed by the Business Secretary.

This is getting too easy.

“People are in awe of him, the man has an aura,” says another minister. “Labour people think he can bring back the magic of the early years, that he has an ability to project a vision of change.”

OK, I’ll stop now.  But the thing is that it’s only too easy to imagine Mandelson saying all these things about himself.  The man is an object lesson in auto-fellatio – why get others to do what you can do yourself?