Peter Mandelson releases batch of 1987-1997 papers

UPDATE: Tweetminster have now uploaded the documents, all linked below. Mandelson was on very good form depsite illness cutting short an interview with The Guardian yesterday. “This chat is on the record. But whatever you do …”, he said darkly as the assembled bloggers half-expected a Mandelson threat of New Labour folklore, “please link to the Amazon page“! Anthony Painter has a substantive overview of the 90 minute event, including Mandelson’s plea to “rock the f**cking boat”.

A couple of the Scrapbook team are currently en route back from a bloggers’ briefing from the Dark Lord himself, where a small batch of Mandelson’s papers were released.

The source material includes:

• A note from the General Secretary of the Labour Party to Mandelson regarding the 1987 election campaign
• A diary entry from 1989 discussing the “future leaders” Blair and Brown
• Mandelson’s note to Blair on Clause IV
• A letter to Blair dated December 1995 outlining general election strategy
• Mandelson’s strategy for the last ten days of the 1997 election
• A note to Blair following New Labour’s victory
• A letter from Mandelson to Blair setting out his role in government, entitled “my job”

We’ll be posting the whole lot in full. In the meantime, however, enjoy this alternative memoir advert from the inimitable Beau Bo D’Or: