So far as the Tories are concerned, Peter Mandelson is the political equivalent of an
itch that you can’t scratch: irritating, elusive and impossible to ignore. And he’s at it again today, with an article in the Independent on Sunday chiding the Tories’ over their
Big Society agenda.
It’s not the “agenda of abandoment” attack that Mandelson made a few days
ago. But, rather, a return to the “cross-dressing”
territory of last year. As Mandelson puts it, “[Cameron’s] tightly knit group of associates has simply pinched a few ideas from our campaign manual, rather than fundamentally reforming
the party to make it fit for office.” And he even tries to locate this point in the make-up of Cameron’s top team:
“On the one hand, there is Steve Hilton, the thoughtful strategist behind Mr Cameron’s more “touchy-feely” moments and an admirer of New Labour.
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