Mandelson attacks Barclays chief

[fullyautomatix]

Quite why Mandelson has to target Barclays, I do not understand. He didn't seem to attack Fred The Shred's pension, did not attack RBS's billion quid bonus despite making a loss, did not attack adam applegarth etc. But he chooses to attack a company which rejected govt help and managed to survive on their own. So what's up ?

[NickFitz]

Electoral gain is why.

Mandelson is (in my humble opinion) a manipulative shyster focused solely on his own devious ends. He will say and do whatever he deems to be useful to himself or to those who can further his arcane purposes.

He reminds me of Richard Nixon, of whom Hunter S. Thompson said, "The truth was not in him. He was rotten to the core."

I say this as a concerned citizen who really, really wants to be a Labour supporter

[Gonzo]

We are at the business end in the run up to the election and we are beginning to see how the campaigns are going to be fought.

If the poll is going to be on 6th May as everyone suspects then Gordon Brown must ask the Queen for a dissolution of parliament by next Monday at the latest.

It looks like Mandelson is stoking up the class-war angle. Persuade Labour's traditional voters that might be tempted to vote for change that the Conservatives really do not give a toss about them.

Whether he is doing this for the election campaign, or to position himself for the internal battle that is going to happen in the Labour party after the election whether they win or lose, I am not sure.

EDIT: I love the way that Reuters have reported this and used a really creepy photo of him.
http://uk.reuters.com/article/idUKTR...dChannel=11700

There's a Full Size control beneath the photo - you just can't bring yourself to click it can you?

[Sysman]

But he chooses to attack a company which rejected govt help and managed to survive on their own. So what's up ?

The bold bit is your answer.

[OwlHoot]

Quite why Mandelson has to target Barclays, I do not understand.

Apart from anything else, he risks having this tactic rebound on Labour.

All the Tories need do is point out how much Tony Blair has made (£20 million plus?) swanning around the lecture circuit, doing little substantial (so it appears to Joe Public) since leaving office.

[Paddy]

Quite why Mandelson has to target Barclays, I do not understand. He didn't seem to attack Fred The Shred's pension, did not attack RBS's billion quid bonus despite making a loss, did not attack adam applegarth etc. But he chooses to attack a company which rejected govt help and managed to survive on their own. So what's up ?

RBS gives promise of non-exec directorship when Mandelson retires.
Mandelson gives taxpayers money to RBS
Madelson happy.

Barclays tells Madelson to FO
Madelson not happy.

[Doggy Styles]

"If you look at Bob Diamond, who took 63 million pounds in pay; that to me is the unacceptable face of banking," he said.

"He hasn't earned that money, he's taken 63 million pounds not by building business or adding value or creating long-term economic strength, he has done so by deal-making and shuffling paper around.

"If anyone could justify that I'd like to see them do so. Just because somebody is very rich, it doesn't mean to say different standards of morality apply to them."

That's a bit rich (no pun intended).

Mandelson himself is very wealthy, from doing what exactly?

[centurian]

Quite why Mandelson has to target Barclays, I do not understand. He didn't seem to attack Fred The Shred's pension, did not attack RBS's billion quid bonus despite making a loss, did not attack adam applegarth etc. But he chooses to attack a company which rejected govt help and managed to survive on their own. So what's up ?

None of the banks would have survived fully intact had it not been for government intervention.

Barclay's was just further down the chain of dominoes (with NR, B&B, RBS, HBOS at the front).

In fact Barclays did get bailed out - just not by taxpayers, but by foreign investors who now own a substantial chunk.

That said - Barclays were clearly more prudent than most, so I agree that Mandleson's attack is unjustified. But then, it's all just electioneering.

[shaunbhoy]

I say this as a concerned citizen who really, really wants to be a Labour supporter

Surely those two notions are mutually exclusive?

[OwlHoot]

Surely those two notions are mutually exclusive?

Baffles the hell out of me too, but each to their own I suppose.