BBC NEWS | Politics | the Towering Infernal
Transcript of BBC NEWS | Politics | the Towering Infernal
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8/4/2019 BBC NEWS | Politics | the Towering Infernal
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Mandy Towers
became synonymous
with spin doctory
and control freakery
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Friday, 23 August, 2002, 10:51 GMT 11:51 UK
The towering infernal
Millbank Tower was synonymous with spin
By Nick AssinderBBC News Online political correspondent
Like red roses, compulsory radio pagers and
Peter Mandelson, Millbank Tower is the very
essence of New Labour.
It is a grand structure absolutely of its time
and, unlike much 1960s mod architecture,
lacking any radicalism which might frighten
the horses.
Its bland, soulless
exterior disguises a
bland, soulless interior.
The previous
headquarters - John
Smith House in
Walworth Road, south London and before that,
believe it or not, the T&G's Transport House -
reeked of Old Labour.
Every room was deliberately filled with smoke
to make the inhabitants feel comfortable.
'Millbank tendency'
The move to Millbank, therefore, was hugely
symbolic and once Mandelson and his pals
moved in, the building took on a slightly
darker, more intimidating image.
Mandy Towers became synonymous with spin
doctory and control freakery and, as far as
the media was concerned, always had a
deliberately unfriendly and unwelcoming
"attitude".
This was where the teenage "Millbank
See also:
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Internet links:
Labour Party
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for the content of externalinternet sites
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Once Mandelson moved in to
Millbank the building took on 'a
slightly darker' image
Classy new pastures in Old Queen
Street
tendency" presided over the rapid rebuttal
unit, designed to nuke Tory propaganda before
it left the launch pad and the infamous
Excalibur computer which rivalled MI5 in the
information it held on anybody and everybody,
friend or foe.
When hacks turned up
for press conferences
during the 1997election campaign, for
example, they were
issued with electronic
press passes that
were swiped through a
card reader before
they were allowed
entry.
The rumour was that
these security posts
were linked to
Excalibur which would flash back messages
like "troublemaker with known anti-New
Labour views, do not trust" or "on side, seat
at the front".
'Global domination'
If Millbank came to resemble anything, it was
one of Star Trek's villainous Borg cubes from
which half-human half-robot drones were sent
out into the universe to assimilate all
opposition.
Resistance was, indeed, futile and for years
nothing stood in the way of Millbank's and
New Labour's plans for global domination.
It was the breeding ground for numerous
Mandelsonies - neat, trendy, humourless
young boys and girls with limited political
experience but an evangelical "calling" .
It was also where
characters like Jo"bury the bad news"
Moore honed their
disreputable black
arts.
Inevitably, the
backlash against spin
and control has seen
the party bosses
looking to change
their image.
Important symbol
Now, after five years as the party's
headquarters and communications bunker,
New Labour has moved out.
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Millbank has outlived its usefulness and
become counterproductive, even an
embarrassment.
Few will miss it. Anyway, ever since Mandy
fell from grace and the spin doctors retreated
back into the shadows, it has seemed
redundant.
And the move to the new building in OldQueen Street is now being spun as just as
important and symbolic as the original move
to Millbank.
The elegant, Georgian building is at the other
end of the architectural scale.
Thirsty work
It nestles in a warren of little streets near the
Commons - hacks never liked the walk to
Millbank, just too near the Commons for a taxibut just too far for a comfortable stroll.
And it lies between two of Westminster's
popular watering holes, the Westminster Arms
and the Two Chairmen (party boss Charles
Clarke will point out that his party has only
ONE chairman, of course) and, for some,
suspiciously close to the London HQ of the
European Commission.
It is intended to present a far more
welcoming, friendly image to symboliseChairman Clarke's ambition to bring the party
closer to its grassroots and put the days of
spin and sleaze behind it.
The rapid rebuttal unit will now be known as
the communications unit and Excalibur will
simply be referred to as "the database."
There is a basement which can be quickly
converted into a press room with banks of
phones, or into a venue for press conferences.
Sorry Charles, not a wine cellar!
Incidentally, while the party is suffering from
a cash crisis, it is also the first HQ it has
actually owned - a valuable asset.
So as one era ends another opens and we are
all being asked to view New Labour in a new
light. Or is it all just more spin?
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