His government was directionless and confused, and from that murk emerged the Peter Mandelson scandal His government was directionless and confused, and from that murk emerged the Peter Mandelson scandal O n a bone-chillingly cold morning in January, it felt as if I had suddenly found at least part of the reason for Keir Starmer’s chronic unpopularity. I was in the Mancunian constituency of Gorton and Denton , where the prime minister and his people’s decision to block Andy Burnham from