Peter Mandelson has criticised Ed Miliband for pronouncing New Labour dead, adding that his leadership campaign failed to give a clue as to what he represented beyond the broadest themes.
Mandelson, the former cabinet minister and architect of New Labour, insists he is loyal to Ed Miliband but is now largely pursuing a business career. His remarks come in a new chapter of his autobiography The Third Man, published in paperback next week.
He criticises the Labour leadership election rules that produced a wafer thin majority for Miliband and says they gave a deciding voice to union organisers, many of whom were not Labour members.
Mandelson says that Ed's vanquished brother David refused to take the gloves off in the fight against his brother and spurned Mandelson's advice to reach out to Ed Balls in the leadership election in the hope that they might unite to defeat Ed Miliband.
Mandelson's criticism will not be welcomed by Ed Miliband as he faces a long-term battle to to give Labour a fresh identity.
In extracts released to the websites Labour Uncut and Labour List, Mandelson writes: "When Ed pronounced New Labour 'dead' he was not only being more categorical than was wise, but quite possibly more than he really intended … Even allowing for the tactical choices he had made in his bid to become leader, however, I was struck by the fact that he had given no strong clue during the campaign as to what alternative to New Labour he envisaged. He was quick to say what he was against: essentially, Tory policies and Tony's policies. But he rarely said what he was for, apart from a belief in greater social mobility and equal chances in life for the young, more strategic government intervention in the economy, and primacy for individual rights in counter-terrorist law. I would sum up his position as being an egalitarian social liberal – different from Tony, yet not a reversion to old Labour."
Mandelson's comments are an update on his original memoir The Third Man, published before the election in July, which included a staunch defence of the New Labour project and warned of a return to old Labour. The comments are published before the revised edition of his memoir comes out on Monday.
Mandelson criticises the former Labour leader Neil Kinnock, saying Kinnock had always found it hard to celebrate New Labour's successes. He said Kinnock drove home Miliband's message by saying Labour's old faithful had finally "got their party back".
"If by that he meant our 1980s party God only knew how, or when, we could hope to become a party of government again," writes Mandelson.
He discusses the dilemma facing David Miliband in the leadership election, arguing he was "fearful that if he championed a renewed New Labour vision too strongly, he would be living up to Ed's stereotype of him as an establishment figure tied to Tony's coat-tails. He ended up in something of a no-man's land – wanting to be the New Labour standard-bearer, but terrified that this would lose him many activists' votes. He did defend New Labour's achievements when his brother started to single out a number of them for criticism. But I felt then, and still feel, that he missed an opportunity to take the gloves off and mobilise those in the broader party membership who still celebrated our three terms in Downing Street – and who would have followed a leader with a plan to update and reinvigorate our governing programme rather than bury it."
Mandelson describes Balls as a tough, capable politician and muses on how the Labour leadership election might have turned out if Balls and David Miliband had joined forces. "A concerted effort by David to forge a future leadership alliance with Ed Balls might well have allowed him to carry the day. David was not persuaded, however, both because he did not want to be placed under any obligation to Ed, and because, until the end, he felt he had enough strength on his own to win". Balls was appointed shadow chancellor by Ed Miliband, following the resignation of Alan Johnson.
Mark Ferguson, editor of LabourList, denied that the comments would damage the party or undermine their leader's reputation: "Ed Miliband is secure enough in himself that individual comments from party grandeurs don't bother him. They didn't bother him in the election, and they certainly don't bother him now that he has been elected and has a strong lead in the polls."
Ferguson said that Mandelson was putting a "positive gloss on old feelings": "Mandelson has come out and openly praised and come out and supported him [Ed Miliband]."
"The trepidation Mandelson is expressing is less to do with how Ed is leading the party and more to do with a hangover from the leadership contest … During the leadership campaign Ed ran away from New Labour but even the most ardent Blairites now say that they are comfortable with the agenda that he is pursuing, particularly dealing with the deficit."
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