Peter Mandelson said I was the "metropolitan elite"

But it's Mandelson who epitomises the British Establishment

Back in 2022, I went to the Web Summit in Portugal, an annual tech conference run by Irish entrepreneur Paddy Cosgrave. (He’s a good guy who ended up, for a time, forced out as the CEO after speaking up against Israel’s genocide).

There was a dinner on the first evening, and whoever organised it obviously had a sense of humour because they put me in the same group as three young American tech reporters… and Lord Peter Mandelson.

I felt a bit sorry for these friendly young journalists because they had no idea who either of us was, and they were subjected to a prolonged bout of British passive aggression about UK politics.

Anyway, when I was discussing how Starmer had duplicitously crushed the left in the Labour Party with Mandelson’s support, I noted that younger Brits were more progressive and would end up alienated by the reality of a Starmer government.

I suggested that when that happened, they would seek alternative political homes, such as the Green Party. (Spoiler: this is what happened).

His response? That this was the classic nonsense of the “metropolitan elite”.

This, from a Lord (well, not anymore!) enmeshed in the world of the uber wealthy and powerful - up to and including convicted paedophile Jeffrey Epstein, himself at the centre of an elite web crossing the Atlantic.

“You sound Trumpian”, was my response. Which is funny in hindsight, because he ended up as the UK Ambassador to the US to suck up to Trump. Indeed, when he was appointed, and it was put to him that a Trump advisor called him “an absolute moron”, he said:

Some around Mr Trump see me as they view many in Europe. They see me as a leftwing progressive, somebody who might even be anti-business or somebody who might be following the sort of liberalism they’ve just defeated in America.

“What they will discover is I’m not an uber-liberal, I’m not a wokey-cokey sort of person, and I’m pro-market and pro-business.

One of the most powerful men in the Labour party, ladies and gentlemen!

There’s a lot more to say on what this scandal all means (unfortunately, I’m in a mad rush to finish writing my new book). But remember this man is the co-founder - along with Tony Blair and Gordon Brown - of the whole New Labour project.

After being forced out of ministerial office twice, he was nominated by the Labour government to become EU Trade Commissioner. Brown made him the de facto deputy prime minister.

And he is one of the main pillars of the Starmer government. He is the mentor of Starmer’s chief of staff Morgan McSweeney: according to a fascinating New Statesman piece, McSweeney “wouldn’t breathe without consulting Mandelson first.”

He helped dictate Starmer’s cabinet reshuffle. He helped stitch up Labour’s parliamentary selections to crush the left (I would be particularly interested to hear whether he was involved in the deselection of Faiza Shaheen).

This man is one of the most powerful men in the country - because Starmer chose him to be, knowing that he was an associate of paedophile Jeffrey Epstein.

And to return to that anecdote: the right have long tried to turn the tables, to claim the real elite are those who believe in redistributing wealth and power and promoting equality.

But Mandelson is emblematic of the British elite. And that’s why this story can’t simply focus on Mandelson - but the entire British Establishment.