Mandelson’s story could have been so very different

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Matthew Parris has narrated this article for you to listen to.

Matt Forde, the stand-up comedian and presenter of his regular Political Party Podcast, has hit on an overlooked technique for getting the most out of big-name interviewees. He pretends to know nothing. Wide-eyed and star-struck (actually he is neither), Forde puts them at their ease in conversation with an apparent fanboy ingénue. ‘Do keep up, Matt,’ said Peter Mandelson, affectionately, as in his Christmas holiday interview Forde claimed to be unaware of some half-forgotten political turbulence that Lord Mandelson, his star interviewee, once encountered. It worked a treat. Lord Mandelson is normally a wary interviewee, but with Forde I have never heard him so unguarded: more confessional even than in his own autobiography.

I listened partly out of curiosity. What was Peter now saying about my run-in with him some 22 years ago? Challenged by Jeremy Paxman on Newsnight to substantiate my claim that being gay was no longer a bar to joining the cabinet, I mentioned Mandelson.