Friends across the divide: does Labour have room for Blairism and Corbynism?
Peter Mandelson and Steve Howell represent the two opposite poles of the Labour party: one was a key architect of Blairism, the other of Corbynism. But they started out as inseparable friends at the same school in north London. Now their focus is on what comes next for the party. Plus: Matthew Taylor on the growing prevalence of climate anxiety
Peter Mandelson rose through Labour’s ranks to become a key architect of the party’s 1997 landslide election win with Tony Blair. Steve Howell has spent his life in the party and rose to become a key strategist in Jeremy Corbyn’s 2017 election campaign, which stripped the Conservatives of their majority. Both men sit on different sides of an ideological divide within the party – but it wasn’t always this way. The pair met at school in Hendon, north London, and became inseparable friends.
The two men join Anushka Asthana to look back at Labour’s recent past and the decisions both made as key advisers to the leader of the day. And they discuss how their experiences inform their decisions on who to back in the current leadership contest.
Also today: Matthew Taylor on the rising prevalence of climate anxiety among people confronted with the realities of global heating.
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