"History is being rewritten. The story we are told is that an evil man called Peter Mandelson, pursuing his own interests, went rogue to collaborate with a serial abuser of girls and women, undermining the good work of people seeking to defend the public interest. All this is true. But and I fear many will find this hard to accept it is only half the story."
"The much harder truth is that Mandelson's disgraceful dealings with Jeffrey Epstein were less a betrayal of his brief than an unauthorised extension of it. In 2009 just as, we now know, Mandelson was passing sensitive information to Epstein I argued that the government department he ran, called Business, Enterprise and Regulatory Reform (Berr), functions as a fifth column within government, working for corporations to undermine democracy and the public interest."
"Berr sought to part-privatise Royal Mail, breaking a manifesto commitment. It succeeded. It tried to block the EU working time directive: UK government filibusters delayed and weakened it. It attempted, less successfully, to undermine the equality bill, whose aim was to ensure equal pay for women (Mandelson's simultaneous dealings with Epstein were not the only respect in which he showed disdain for women's rights). It undermined environmental legislation. It was quiet"
Peter Mandelson maintained secret dealings with Jeffrey Epstein while leading Business, Enterprise and Regulatory Reform (Berr). Berr operated as a pro-corporate force within government, bypassing parliamentary oversight to appease powerful lobbyists and capital. The department was largely run by unelected lords with corporate backgrounds and pursued agendas favoring privatization and deregulation. Berr pushed to part-privatise Royal Mail, delayed and weakened the EU working time directive, sought to undermine an equality bill aimed at equal pay for women, and chipped away at environmental protections. Mandelson's conduct exemplified and intensified the department's corporate-aligned priorities.
Read at www.theguardian.com
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