The Guardian From the start this New Labour government has been permeated by contrasting cultures.
Ideological division is close to zero.
Left and right factions that were accorded formal status by every former Labour prime minister no longer exist, though Blairites v Brownies is a battle sometimes made to stand proxy for them. There is really no such contest. But there has always been a contrast of tone, of style, of milieu, of social aspiration, between what one might call flash politics and drudge politics. Peter Mandelson's resignation heralds, not to Labour's disadvantage, a decisive victory for the drudgery style. One can imagine the scene in Downing Street yesterday morning.