Peter Mandelson: Oh Mandy

Just a quick reminder that this gaylord is a colossal cunt.

Corbyn: Mandy Speaks!

Oh do shut up, you awful right wing old queen.

And stop yer botox and bad hair-dye job.

Closet Queens: Getting Away With It

From 1885, when the Labouchere amendment created the new offence of gross indecency, until 1967, when the recommendations of the Wolfenden committee were enacted, all homosexual behaviour was illegal in Britain. It continued to attract intense social disapproval for long after that: as late as 1993, according to the annual British Social Attitudes survey, most people still considered it to be “always wrong”. In this cruel and illiberal atmosphere, politicians with gay inclinations had to keep them secret from the public at large, and ran enormous risks. They were obliged either to repress their sexual feelings and lead celibate lives, or else to lead double lives, indulging their tastes clandestinely while outwardly conducting conventional, heterosexual existences, often married with children.

Yet paradoxically, “closet queens” (to use an expression that came into vogue in the 1960s) often made effective politicians. They were past masters when it came to keeping secrets, and taking calculated risks; they were also actors on life’s stage, with a strong sense of showmanship, and a flair for intrigue and subterfuge. And there was probably a far higher proportion of homosexuals in politics than in most other walks of life, partly because, as actors and risk-takers, they were drawn to the profession, and also because 20th-century British politicians were often educated at all-male boarding schools, which fostered intense (often sexual) friendships among their pupils, and provided unintentional training in the art of breaking the rules and getting away with it...

Michael Bloch, Double Lives, The Guardian Review.

A nice introduction to Michael Bloch's new book, Closet Queens: Some 20th Century British Politicians.

Roll up, roll up! All yer favourites are here; Lord Rosebery, Earl Beauchamp, Balfour, Tom Driberg, Lord Boothby, most of MacMillan's cabinet (!), Edward Heath, Jeremy Thorpe, Norman St John Stevas, Mandelson, Portillo, Ron Davies, and intriguingly, if not entirely persuasively, Winston Churchill...

PS Craig Brown is not too impressed.

Peter Mandelson: Still Creepy After All These Years

'First of all, I'd like to pay tribute to Ed Miliband, useless sack of socialist shite he may have been. You know something Andrew, we could have won this election if only everyone had listened to me. Remember New Labour, they were great, and that was me. I blame the trade unions for picking Ed over his more Blairite and, let's be honest, much better looking brother, David. As for his successor, we don't want a beauty contest, but that young Chuka Umunna chap you had on the show today, when I was watching him I almost lost my deposit!'

Thank you Lord Peter of Mandy, anything else?

'Aspiration, aspiration, aspiration!'

The look of love...

Mark Gatiss: I'm Mandy, Fly Me

“He has this fluting voice and distinctive mannerisms… ‘I’m a fighter, not a quitter’… Quite camp, yet there's something very still and sly about him.” Gatiss mimes Mandelson spooning yogurt into his mouth. “There’s this lovely old clip where he’s eating a yogurt and drops a bit on his tie. He looks down at it and says, ‘Oh,’ holding out the yogurt pot with a monarch’s expectation, just knowing someone will appear to take it. Such a fascinating character. ...

“I’ve always been fascinated by him – that Eighties ’tache, the job title of ‘Minister without Portfolio’. An interviewer once asked him: ‘Peter, why aren’t you the leader of the Labour Party?’ And he says: ‘Well, you have to remember that Gordon and Tony had a head start on me. I didn’t become an MP until 1992. Then when Tony left, of course, it was Gordon’s turn and…’ He lists all these reasons, but it never occurs to him to say, ‘Oh no, I couldn’t.’ He’s obviously thought about it for years. There’s something flouncy about him, too. He resigned when he could’ve hung on and ridden it out but instead he was overdramatic and a bit petulant. I find that an appealing personality trait. He’s not some sort of edifice or monolith or vampire. There’s a lot of humour and pathos in him. If people believed the whole prince of darkness thing, that suited him. If you go to Castle Dracula, you expect Count Dracula to meet you. Yet when you see footage of him talking to people, he’s a really good laugh and bon viveur.”

Gatiss - 'Gay-tiss, he tells me' - interviewed in The Telegraph.

Mark plays Mandy in the Channel 4 drama, Coalition, broadcast on Thursday March 26th.

Nicky Haslam: On Gay Marriage

“It’s a nightmare. The whole point of being gay was not to get married.”

Daily Telegraph.

Thought For The Day: Richard Littlejohn

"As Peter Mandelson proves, if you’re going to break the rules, it helps to be gay. Then we’re deep into ‘personal tragedy’ territory and speedy rehabilitation. It’s hankies all round, not handcuffs.
"By rights, Laws should have been put on trial for fraud, not brought back into government before he’s even given his own constituents the chance to pass their verdict on him. But now it’s time to ‘move on’. It’s the modern way.
"Perhaps they’ll put him in charge of approved schools."

Richard Littlejohn back on top form in the Daily Mail.
That's right, Dicky, there's one law for the bumders, and one for the likes of you.
You couldn't make it up! etc etc.

Bilderberg 2012: Young Man With A Horn

Collin Abramowicz is 22, and comes from a background soaked in sports: "My stepfather watches baseball, my father watches football, all my friends are obsessed with sports. I used to do wrestling at school, but now my priorities have shifted. You cannot get passionate about something when you're being deceived. They're magicians – they are doing something with one hand while you're watching the other. Sport is a distraction."
From what? "How about the NDAA? Or how about HR658? Why does the government want to put 30,000 surveillance drones in the sky by 2020?'

That's Collin pictured above with the horn - one of a number of protesters at this year's Bilderberg meeting who spoke to The Guardian.
I picked out Collin cause I like the cut of his jib.


PS Stephen Green "of" Christian Voice also fears Bilderberg 2012's meeting of the secret rulers of the world, noting this year; "The UK’s gay mafia is well represented with Peter, Lord Mandelson, who is now Chairman of ‘Global Counsel’, whatever that is, and Nick Boles, MP, a member of David Cameron’s kitchen cabinet and a good friend of modernisers Boris Johnson and Francis Maude." Tremble!

Peter Mandelson Vs The Daily Mail: Continued...

Oh.
There you go.
Never could stick him myself.
But - look! - here's a photospread thing featuring "Mandy" and "his partner Ronaldo".

And their little dog, too!
WON'T SOMEBODY PLEASE THINK OF THE CHILDREN???
Still, always good to see The Mail On Sunday taking sides in the class war, methinks...

Nigel Evans MP: A Gay Mail On Sunday

Two very telling headlines in The Mail On Sunday who got the exclusive about Nigel Evans coming out;
'Commons Deputy Speaker tells why he is fed up with 'living a lie': Growing up in South Wales, it was hard enough being a Tory, let alone being a gay'
A gay?!
And; 'I'm gay and fed up with living a lie, says Tory MP who voted against equal rights for homosexuals'
Oops!
Evans does not have a long-term male partner - which is handy as the Mail is currently campaigning for the "right" to bar gay couples from hotels.
But who is "the former Labour MP" who Nigel says started a whispering campaign against him?
I suppose if the MP was gay and had been a cabinet minister, the Mail would have said so, wouldn't they?
Evans told The Mail; 'The MP was saying to anyone who would listen, “Why is it that Nigel Evans leads a life whereby he is gay to some people and not others?”'
It sounds suspiciously like something Peter Mandelson said after Chris Grayling's B&B "gaffe".
"When the camera is on they say one thing, but when the camera is off they say another."
The Sunday Times asked dancefloor superstar and silly old bat, Ann Widdecombe, if she supported Evans coming out at the launch of parliament's lgbt group, ParliOut.
“No I do not. MPs are supposed to be there to help other people not to go whingeing on their own behalf. I cannot understand the modern day emphasis and fascination and obsession with people's private lives.
“We have had gay MPs since we've had MPs...we’ve had gay everythings. It is not an issue and what we are doing now is encouraging your profession to go into everybody’s private lives," said the unmarried, sexless scary old spinster.

Storyville: Mandelson - The Real PM?

I really don't think I can be arsed to watch this BBC4 fly-on-the-wall documentary about Peter Mandelson tonight.
Or possibly ever.

Mandelson: Meeting Myself Not Coming Out

Peter Mandelson got another chance to plug his well-selling memoirs on Radio 4's Meeting Myself Coming Back this evening.
The programme was picked up and previewed by various media pushing the angle that Mandelson was played a recording of Matthew Parris "outing" him on Newsnight in 1998.
Mandelson commented: "What upset me first of all was that they should be debating this as though it was some sort of question that hadn't been answered or that it was of some political importance.
"I didn't feel any inhibition leading my life as I did. To all intents and purposes - my home, my family, my friends - there was no sort of secret. I had been outed by the News of the World some 10 years before in 1987 and had long since got over it and got through it. What I didn't accept very easily was this had suddenly become the subject of a political discussion on Newsnight, when in my view it had absolutely nothing whatsoever to do with my life as a politician or what I was doing as a minister."
Mandelson is being slightly mendacious - his role in a BBC internal memo swiftly issued afterwards ("Under no circumstances whatsoever should allegations about the private life of Peter Mandelson be repeated or referred to on any broadcast") was brushed over.
But what did you expect? Peter Mandelson's a spin doctor; managing the economy of truth is what he does for a living.
Fagburn dug out a copy of Gay Times from July 1987 to see how his initial outing was dealt with at the time. It happened during a particularly nasty and - for the tabloids - a particularly homophobic general election campaign.
Mandelson was a key player, but a minor character; the two page spread from The News Of The World is reproduced along with several other press cuttings as an illustration in Gay Times' Mediawatch section.
But so much other anti-gay crap was being thrown it didn't warrant an actual mention in the text of a three page feature, nor on the 22 pages of News, beyond its headline being quoted in a round-up; 'My Love For Gay Labour Boss'. 
He just wasn't newsworthy back then. Mandelson isn't mentioned by name in The News of The World piece until the second paragraph - and he shares his spread with the latest on Harvey Procter MP; 'Spanking Tory Resigns At Last'.
Happy times...
Fagburn has nothing further to add to what I've already written about Mr Mandelson's closetry, except to remark that this shows that coming out is a continual process, and - equally - slipping back into the closet is quite easy.
And - but for a bit of schoolboy sniggering ("Mandy...") - if you have the press onside they'll happily collude with your closetry.
Is anyone surprised at Peter Mandelson's newfound candour?
He's happy to talk about his sexuality now - he's not trying to sell the Labour Party, but he knows such straight talking will help promote his book.

Peter Mandelson: Exclusive - They Can't Even Walk Straight

The not-so subtle subtext of homophobic sniggering behind much of the coverage of Peter "Mandy" Mandelson over the last week - and over the last two decades - is exposed in another excellent column by Barbara Ellen in The Observer today.
"Mandelson has been widely scorned for playing along with his Prince of Darkness image. Among others, former Labour leader Neil Kinnock remarked that he had played up to his caricature. So let's get this straight – everyone else is allowed to depict Mandelson as an evil, scheming, Lady Macbeth figure, to spend years dubbing him Mandy, in such a snide way it often verged on the openly homophobic. Everyone else is allowed to indulge themselves to their heart's content with all these lisping, cape-swishing caricatures. Everyone, that is, except Mandelson himself...
"Considering the routine homophobia aimed at him, one wouldn't be surprised if Mandelson welcomed the Prince of Darkness sobriquet for the simple reason that it sounded vaguely butch. It's a pleasant change from him "mincing", or "scuttling", in the shadows (never just walking normally, because, as we all know, gay men can't do that)."

Peter Mandelson: Mandy Meets His Maker

A rather waspish interview with Peter Mandelson in the Daily Telegraph by Matthew Norman today.
Norman comes out about having coined Mandelson's nickname "Mandy".
I've always found it interesting how this name gained such currency - even though it always seemed far from neutral.
It's the kind of mocking moniker a gay man might give another, but context is all and seeing it taken up so enthusiastically by the press had a faint whiff of homophobia.
Matthew Norman recalls; "With the Wildean wit of the four-year-old in the playground, I gave him the nickname that drove him berserk. But you didn’t genuinely think it was homophobic, did you? “No. Well, perhaps I did then,” – he railed to my then editor about the “agony” for a gay man of being called Mandy – “although I don’t think that now. But you were vile to me.”"
One is thus led to presume that the pun in the opening paragraph about Peter and a certain Soho restaurant frequented by leading Labourites was intentional; "I haven’t been here for 25 years,” he murmurs on entering the Gay Hussar in Soho. “It feels like coming home.”
'It isn’t just this wonderful old Hungarian restaurant’s name that makes it such a perfect venue for our lunch, though that helps. “We won’t go there, I think,” he murmurs when I raise the image of the high camp cavalryman riding to Gordon Brown’s rescue with that surreal Cabinet return in 2008. “Let’s give all the gay stuff a wide berth, shall we?”
Norman also manages to slip in references and/or comparisons to Lord Byron, Whatever Happened To Baby Jane?, Captain Jack, Pet Shop Boys and Graham Norton.
And after giving Peter Mandelson such a titillating entrance, Matthew Norman makes sure there's a grand finale.
“It’s not the end of my world,” says the Gloria Gaynor of British politics laconically, as his taxi draws to its halt. “I will survive.”

Peter Mandelson: No Pussyfooting

Peter Mandelson and Evan Davis have just been locking handbags horns over on Radio 4's Today programme.
Well, I wish they had been.
Davis was so gentle with the Princess of Darkness I started wishing that patronising old frump John Humphrys was doing it, so he and Mandelson could have a Miss Rude competition.
Not much to report - of course Mandy had to publish his memoirs so soon after the election, better than re-opening all those old wounds next year, eh?
No, he wouldn't be donating the proceeds to the Labour Party.
I end up only half-listening and thinking about my breakfast.
Then Davis says; "There's only five mentions of Ronaldo."
Eh?
I'm thinking, that Cristiano Ronaldo's a good-looking young chap but why on Jupiter would Mandelson write about the Portugese footballer in his memoirs?
Oh - Reinaldo is the name of Peter's boyfriend!
I'd forgotten all about him - which is probably what Mandelson wants people to do.
Davis says it's evidence of how Mandy doesn't come across as a very well-rounded figure, there's not much sign of a life outside politics.
Peter Mandelson sort of sighs and gives some glib managerial non-reply, which kind of proves the point.
Interview over - opportunity missed.
Evan Davis can't resist signing off with a little catty put down; "The Third Man by Peter Mandelson - salacious gossip and little bits on trade policy."
Perhaps once again any reticence on Mandelson's part was because The Times is going to get all the good stuff?
He has made what Fagburn believes is his first ever public commentary about being gay in a video interview for The Times - I would give a link but it's hidden behind their new paywall.
''I would hate to think that I take a stand because I have one sexuality, or one sexual orientation.
''I think it's important that people should be able to get to the top of politics – or whatever profession they aspire to travel to the top of – irrespective of what they are.
''I think I'm actually quite a good role model for people who, without any fuss or bother, without any self-consciousness or inverse or other discrimination, (are) able to make it in politics, to make it in public life, to make it to the top places in government of our country.
''That shows a lot of people that you don't have to be worried or ashamed or self-conscious. It's your ability that counts. You can be who you are, what you are and still get to the top in Britain.
''I'm rather proud of that. If I've demonstrated that, and provided a role model for that, then I think I've done a service.''
Though never actually coming out and leaning heavily on newspaper bosses and BBC bigwigs to try and ensure that no mention was ever made of his homosexuality showed a certain amount of shame, worry and self-consciousness, don't you think?

Peter Mandelson: Can You Tell What It Is Yet?

You might think that as it's Silly Season it would be pretty much open season for the newspapers to fill their pages by printing even more nonsense about "the gays" than usual.
Not today, at any rate.
There's rather a lot about that chap with clear anger-management issues who blew his head off somewhere in the North, and lots about that footyball cup final thingy which is tonight, apparently.
As for anything remotely gay, "remotely" is the word; Grace Jones wore a funny hat at something or other, Cristiano Ronaldo has painted his toenails black, an 18 year-old boy wants to have a sex change so he can look more like Jordan (bless etc etc)...
Of course there is this big bubbling-under story/speculation about what Peter Mandelson is going to reveal in his steamy memoirs, which are being serialised in The Times next week.
These could be summarised as; no-one has the foggiest idea.
Fagburn was however rather taken with the Daley cartoon pictured above, from The Sunday Telegraph.
I like the way it hints at a Blair/Brown/Mandy bizarre psychic love triangle.
But moreover, it's so fantastically badly drawn that the cartoonist has had to caption it so people will realise it's meant to be Peter Mandelson.
A bit like those kids' drawings you see stuck to fridges, where Little Darren has scrawled madly in crayon on a bit of paper - and someone has helpfully added an arrow pointing to it and the caption "dog".
Bless.