The Leaders UK: All the best of the UK editorial pages, all in one place.

Peter Mandelson at Davos in 2007. Photo credit: World Economic Forum

The Guardian “Labour Party Memoirs: The sorrow and the pity”

The latest inside account of the Labour years – by Peter Mandelson – highlights the self-obsession of the characters involved (The Guardian likened such books to “an episode of Hollyoaks”) and, more worryingly, “the depressing absence of any interest in ideas”. None of the books to come out of the Labour years has made the “intellectual case” for Labour, and all have failed to be “passionate”, “brave” or “provocative,” said the paper. The Guardian hoped that things would change. “Wanted: a philosopher for Labour, to determine the next decade, not the last.”

The Times “The weakness of Tony Blair”

Like The Guardian, The Times was struck by two major impressions in the wake of Peter Mandelson’s new book. These are“the ferocious malevolence of Gordon Brown” and “the surprising limpness of Mr Blair”. The paper remarked on Blair’s apparent lack of internal leadership, found his “tolerance of disloyalty . . . striking” and predicted that the book would “tarnish the legacy of a prime minister who appeared to be one of the strongest leaders that Britain has had, but whose indecision proved fatal”.

The Telegraph “Life remains the right sentence for murder”

Kenneth Clarke, the Justice Secretary, is considering giving the judiciary “a degree of flexibility” in sentencing for murder. This “would be a mistake,” said The Telegraph – not least because there is already flexibility within the existing system to reflect the nature of the crime. The life sentence is itself a “symbolic sentence”; it is also part of a “contract struck with the public” following the abolition of capital punishment in 1969. “There is no good reason why this should change,” said the paper.

The Independent “The official feebleness continues”

“It was necessary to rescue the banks in order to avert an economic catastrophe,” The Independent reminded its readers. “But nothing can justify what has happened in the banking sector since then.” The paper complained about “record” payouts to bank employees and lambasted the previous government for giving handouts “without any meaningful reform demanded in return”. Now the new government is doing no better. There will be no new taxation without international co-ordination and no immediate decision on whether to split up retail and investment banking. “Supine” was The Independent’s conclusion – and potentially a “blunder as profound as any made by the banks at the height of the credit boom”.

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