Mandelson, risen from the dead, is up and dangerous

Few of us thought we’d live to see the day when a Labour party conference would rise as one to their feet in a standing ovation for Peter Mandelson. But today they did.

Of course, we have seen it before – when Michael Heseltine did the same for the improbable electoral prospects of John Major.

Mandelson has locked his destiny to that of Gordon Brown in a manner which it is hard to see even him managing to unpick and excuse away. It was a terrific conference speech – a coherent and intriguing argument for staying in power.

But as the fishes leapt from the depths to caress the soles of the risen Peter walking the water above them, there must have been many in the hall here in Brighton who were wondering who else besides Mandelson would be left on deck with any energy to join him in power.

Brown smiled and clapped his way through the speech. Any ancient hatreds have been buried in the cause of what is now the most tumultuous love.

There is, it seems, nothing like rising from the dead twice for liberating the political soul. Mandelson is liberated, free and orating in a manner we have not seen from him before.

Of course, he is prone to the odd road accident in politics, but one senses he is stronger, more relaxed and at ease in the headlights of other oncoming political vehicles. To use a cricketing analogy, Mandelson is for the Tories the Ricky Ponting that has to be got out for them to stand a chance of victory.

He’s up and dangerous. He could be Brown’s saviour and the party’s damnation. Or the saviour of both. Either way, at the end of it he leaves a little more than his previous footnotes in history.

It may have started flat, but tonight as the hall swelled to health and safety-busting over-capacity, there was a spirit alive. It may be a puncturable mirage or it may go down as one of the great conference speeches.