SHARED OPINION

On hearing a Mandelson overture

FRANK JOHNSON

Most of us would have been surprised to learn, as a result of the 'cash for access' affair, that there is a second Mendelsohn active in New Labour intrigue. He is Mr Jon Mendelsohn, one of the three partners in 'the lobbying firm Lawson Lucas Mendelsohn'.

The three are 'former New Labour appa- ratchilcs'. Mr Lucas and Mr Mendelsohn were quoted by the Observer, the paper which uncovered the lobbying affair, as say- ing embarrassing things. My interest here, however, is not with the issue, but with the name, and with the function and impor- tance of names in general. Mendelsohn and Mandelson have the same etymological and linguistic origin in the German-Jewish and East European-Jewish worlds.

Whatever the slight differences in spelling, it is a famous name, but our age has produced the first of the clan to become well-known in politics. Just think, if Felix Mendelssohn (1809-47) had been more gifted and had played his cards right, he could have been a great spin doctor, ending up as a fabulously well-paid lobby- ist. Instead of having to churn out the inci- dental music to A Midsummer Night's Dream, the Italian symphony, the Hebrides overture and the oratorio Elijah, he could have swanned around cocktail parties, reas- suring the rich that they had nothing to fear from whatever was the early 19th century's version of New Labour, and that he was really more right-wing than the Prussian king.

Felix would also have tasted the joys of threatening people with retribution if they depicted either him, or his various schemes, unflatteringly. I myself have received two such calls over the last few months from Felix's presumed descendant, Peter. On both occasions he objected to something about him in The Spectator. On both occa- sions, he uttered some such dark phrase as, 'My learned friends tell me it's actionable.'

'Why don't you write us a letter for publi- cation?' I suggested the second time, con- cerning some media skulduggery in which Stephen Glover had implicated him and about which he was complaining. 'Because I believe I have a certain dignity,' Mr Man- delson replied. I remember thinking, he's in the wrong trade for that. He should have gone into music, like Felix. Better still, he should have become a deist philosopher, like Felix's grandfather, Moses MendeIs- sohn (1729-86), on whom Lessing based his Nathan the Wise. He sounds the dignified one.

In the end, Mr Mandelson wrote his let- ter: a good one too, terse and — I am sure to his hostile critics' eyes — suitably para- noid. In it, he did down one of his enemies, Mr Routledge, author of his impending biography. Mr Routledge did not respond. That must have given Mr Mandelson much satisfaction.

Felix, however, probably never dared speak his mind about an enemy. His ene- mies could be potential patrons. But had he become a spin doctor, he could have thrown his weight around: 'Don't mess with me, Metternich. I may come from Ham- burg, but I get invited to as many smart parties in Vienna as you do. One more snide piece about me in your government- controlled press, and you're history.'

Admittedly, Felix discovered Bach — all but forgotten by the 1830s. But Peter dis- covered Blair. This could, however, be Mr Mandelson's last contribution to art. For we could be living in Mr Mandelson's twi- light. The word is that he has been 'dam- aged' by the lobbying affair. The other word is that, if he gets a department in the reshuffle, he will have fewer opportunities to intrigue and interfere; and if he gets some 'co-ordinating role', the lobbyists matter will ensure that his intrigues and interferences are not what they were. His- tory may remember Felix Mendelssohn, rather than Peter Mandelson, after all.

Articles and lectures, though in Britain not many, have commemorated the 100th anniversary — to fall on 30 July — of Bis- marck. None I have seen have noticed that he died in the same year as another figure who dominated his country's politics throughout much of the second half of the 19th century: Gladstone. Which of them is lasting the best?

'I have experience of law enforcement. I was in jail.' Most of the centenary pronouncements have suggested that, if their authors had been asked the question, they would have concluded that it was Bismarck. Bismarck sought a united Germany. Germany is again united. Therefore Bismarck is look- ing well. There were a few subtleties, but this was the gist of the argument.

This is the opposite of what was said on the 50th anniversary of Bismarck's death, in 1948. The German liberal historian, Erich Eyck, addressing our Historical Association on 'Bismarck After 50 Years', said: `. . . there is nothing left of his creation. German unity has been destroyed.'

I suspect that, from Bismarck's point of view, it is still destroyed. He created a unity controlled by Protestants and Prussia. Herr Kohl, like the Adenauer who presided over the creation of the West German state of which the present Germany is an enlarge- ment, is a Catholic Rhinelander. Their party, the Christian Democrats, is allied to the still more Catholic Bavarian Christian Social Union. Worse, from Bismarck's point of view, the present Germany's for- eign policy is in thrall to France: the coun- try which Bismarck replaced as the greatest Continental power in 1870, and whose capi- tal he despised as 'Babylon'.

Erich Eyck, who by coincidence was Gladstone's German biographer, would probably not revise his opinion of how last- ing were Bismarck's achievements. Glad- stone's, however, are all around. His most recent and most sympathetic biographer, Lord Jenkins of Hillhead, is said to be a great influence on Mr Blair, and is devising an electoral scheme whose intention is to keep out of power for much of the next century the political party which Gladstone and Lord Jenkins despise.

Gladstone, with his agitation against Turkish 'ethnic cleansing' in Bulgaria, invented the 'ethical foreign policy'. That policy was pursued, not just by Mr Cook, but by almost every American president since Wilson, who was a great admirer of Gladstone. Gladstone's Balkan policy is also, for good or ill, President Clinton's.

Gladstone, then, has beaten Bismarck. I think it is not generally known, however, that Bismarck invented one of the world's great drinks. By mixing the apparently incompatible champagne and stout, he cre- ated black velvet. That is more than most of us achieve.