Mandelson slams Labour’s “awful complacency”

The Labour Party has “gone back to sleep” and allowed an “awful complacency” to set in since the election, according to Peter Mandelson. In an interview with Newsnight, the Labour peer lambasts that the desire for radical thinking that defined the party immediately after the election defeat has been lost.

The former Cabinet minister said:

“Everyone said in the 24-48 hours after our defeat this year: ‘Oh my God, we’ve really got to think radically, overhaul, and realise where we went wrong.’

“Since then the Labour Party seems to have gone back to sleep somewhat. You know, that sort of awful complacency, sort of desire not make difficult choices, or take difficult decisions that might be inconvenient for the Labour Party, or create tension or division. No, let’s leave that alone.

“Let’s hope that a new face at the top will simply get us back to where we want to be. It won’t.”

The full interview will be broadcast tonight, but in a minute-long trailer released this afternoon, Lord Mandelson describes May’s result as a “spectacular defeat” and says Labour will not win until it “faces up” to the need to improve. You can watch the clip here: