Customer Reviews:
Showing reviews 1-5 of 80
 Unholy triumvurate September 7, 2010
racefan
Quite interesting listen to understand the mess that was New Labour. The book clearly shows that Labour were about spin rather than substance and that the PM recognised the shortfalls as early as 2002. I'll follow up by reading the Blair book to see if he relates how much he relied on Mandelson - as Mandelson ststes!
 Badly written, disorganised, self absorbed and hilarious for the wrong reason September 5, 2010
Fenella Lorimar
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
A bitter, twisted little man, screaming "It should have been me!" for five hundred pages. An hysterically funny exercise in self aggrandisement. But the real surprise is how poorly written it is. Vacuous aphorisms, a new Labour speciality, abound. Particularly hapless editing. The number of times he uses phrases like..."this was to prove to be the most important day/week/four hours of my political life/career." Not an iota of real political theory. It does, however, give an insight into the worst characteristics of the New Labour agenda. Power as an end in itself. Personal ambition and gross self-delusion. Groupies to the rich and famous. So, although great chunks of this book are just plain tedious, on that front, somewhat fascinating. I learned that they were even worse on the inside than they appeared on the out.
My thoughts on the book September 4, 2010
C. M. Baxendale (Scarborough UK)
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
I found the book very boring and self indulgent, I would not recommend it to anyone.
 The Third Man September 4, 2010
Kenneth Robinson
The book provides a very interesting insight into the struggle for leadership of the Labour Party. Peter Mandelson's portayal of the Blair/Brown uneasy alliance is fascinating and smacks of the truth. Mandelson somehow shakes off his reputation for primary Machiavelian roles for he seems always to have been in the shadow of the two leaders. He is still the Puppet Master to some extent, but is is more manipulated by Blair and Brown than might have been thought. His loyalty to Brown and consequent support in the early days is remarkable, for he sees the flaws in the Labour politician. He emphasises Brown's good qualities, but sees so clearly those limitations as a leader which became so evident when Brown became Prime Minister. Had he truly been "the Prince of Darkness" he should have schemed a better end to the Blair years. In the end, as is usually the case, politicians are revealed as ambitious and self serving. Mandelson, I think, is revealed as a man of enormous talent who might just have failed to be the major political player he could have been.
 The third man September 3, 2010
Florence N. Trueman (ANGLESEA AUSTRALIA)
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
The Third Man written by Lord Peter Mandleson exceeded all my expectations.For any one interested in the workings of your Government, this book is a must.Full of information and a very easy read.
Showing reviews 1-5 of 80
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