bbc news | politics | the towering infernal

8/4/2019 BBC NEWS | Politics | the Towering Infernal

1/4

Mandy Towers

became synonymous

with spin doctory

and control freakery

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EDITIONS

Change to World

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:

30 Jul 02 | Politics

TV drama highlights

Millbank masses11 Jul 01 | UK

R.I.P. Millbank Tower

27 Jan 98 | UK

New home for Labour's

old guard

05 Jul 01 | Politics

Labour abandons Millbank

Internet links:

Labour Party

The BBC is not responsible

for the content of externalinternet sites


2/4

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.


3/4

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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