Dome to doom

The `Hinduja affair' is damaging for Labour not only because it erupted so close to a general election but more for its impact on the equations within the party and the Government, writes HASAN SUROOR.

BRITAIN'S LABOUR Government, in power for barely four years, is not new to controversies. But the Hindujas affair is by far the most damaging not only because it has erupted so close to a general election but for its impact on the equations within the party and the Government.

The buzz is now centred on the implications of Mr. Peter Mandelson's departure from the Government. As one of the principal architects of New Labour and a member of the Prime Minister, Mr. Tony Blair's ``kitchen'' cabinet, his exit is seen even by his critics, who are legion, as politically devastating for Mr. Blair. As a former Blair aide put it, in deciding to remove him, he has ``amputated'' and that begs the question: then why did he do it?

But first a word about the Hindujas' affair. The allegation is that Mr. Srichand Hinduja, who is being investigated for his alleged involvement in the Bofors kickback scandal, was given British citizenship in 1999 as a favour for his œ1 million donation to the Millenium Dome and that Mr. Mandelson who was then the Minister in-charge of the Dome lobbied his case with the Home Office. Another lobbyist was Mr. Keith Vaz, then a mere MP, and now the Foreign Office Minister and under enormous pressure to resign. Mr. Mandelson was forced to quit last month for concealing his role in facilitating Mr. Hinduja's citizenship, and for ``lying'' that he did not make a telephone call to the then Home Office Minister, Mr. Mike O'Brien, in connection with Mr. Hinduja's application. This was Mr. Hinduja's second attempt at getting British citizenship and its successful outcome is seen to be linked to his ``networking'' with New Labour.

Barely two days after The Observer broke the ``passports-for- favours scandal'' on January 21, Mr. Mandelson who had by then become the highly successful Secretary of State for Northern Ireland was summoned to 10. Downing Street and when he emerged two hours later he announced to the waiting reporters that he had decided to resign; a decision which, he claimed later, was forced on him by a ``kangaroo'' court. Mr. Mandelson has few friends either in his own party or in the media and the initial reaction was one of smug satisfaction.

One of his former aides said Mr. Mandelson had brought it upon himself and paid the price for hobnobbing with big business and social climbers. But as events unfolded, it began to appear that he had been done in by his own colleagues - among them Mr. Blair's powerful chief of staff Mr. Jonathan Powell, the spokesman, Mr. Alastair Campbell, the Home Secretary, Mr. Jack Straw, the Cabinet Secretary, Sir Richard Wilson, and the Lord Chancellor Lord Irvine.

With elections looming, he was expected to play a decisive role in devising the campaign strategy overshadowing such powerful rivals as the Chancellor of the Exchequer, Mr. Gordon Brown, and the Deputy Prime Minister, Mr. John Prescott. There were also fears that after the elections he might expect to be rewarded with a more important portfolio - and the one he was said to coveting was Mr. Robin Cook's job in the foreign office. Besides, the euro-sceptics in the Government were upset over his strongly pro-Europe views and wanted him cut down to size. In a way almost everyone, barring Mr. Blair, had a motive to wish him away, and the Hindujas' row came as a god-send; something they would have wished to invent if it had not happened.

Significantly this is in sharp contrast to their strong defence of Mr. Vaz whose links with the Hindujas go much deeper and who is at the centre of far more serious allegations relating to his business dealings than an unconfirmed telephone call . Mr. Campbell, asked by reporters why Mr. Vaz was not being asked to resign, snapped that the media seemed be saying that ``you shouldn't sack Ministers where they admitted wrongdoing but you should sack Ministers where there is nothing proven''.

In one stroke what the Hindujas-Mandelson controversy has done is to hurt New Labour where it hurts the most. A party - its architects grandly call it a ``project'', the New Labour Project - which took pride in being united, transparent and above sleaze suddenly finds itself vulnerable on all these counts with the high moral ground that it sought to occupy vis-a-vis the Tories slipping away from under its feet. A new poll has shown that Labour is now perceived to be even more sleazy than the Tories, and as for unity of purpose a cartoon in The Times showing leading Labour lights standing with knives to each other's backs.

Meanwhile, skeletons from Mr. Vaz's cabinet continue to tumble and even if his continuance does not affect the party's electoral prospects it certainly reinforces the image of a party which has begun to stink of sleaze. Mr. Blair is lucky that the Leader of the Opposition is so uncharismatic, or he would have had reason to be seriously worried in the build-up to the May elections. Wonder what politicians in power would do without the TINA factor.

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