5 things Mandelson said before disappearing into the night. (Liberal Democrat European Group (LDEG))

Liberal Democrat European Group (LDEG) <info@ldeg.org>

5 things Mandelson said before disappearing into the night.

December 4, 2008 10:55 AM

The 5th Hugo Young lecture took place at Chatham House on Wednesday with speaker Peter Mandelson (PM for short). The title of his lecture was "Globalization and the Crunch: what lessons for politics in Europe?" The event was chaired by Peter Preston.

PM was first asked to speak before returning from the EC so, whilst his speech was interesting, it possibly strayed too much towards UK politics and party political politics for the non-media part of the audience which was more interested in Europe.

The transcript of his speech can be found on the Chatham House website but here are 5 points made during the Q and A session.

1. The current global problems will change the mindset of a generation.

2. The UK should join the Euro but there should be no fast tracking at the moment. The Euro is not on the very crowded radar screen right now.

3. Europe is the UK's domestic market.

4. The banking system will reinvent itself starting in the US.

5. It's good to have G20 on the road.

After 10 minutes of questions Peter Preston said it was time for Peter M to disappear out of the door and, as appropriate for the panto season, Mandelson replied, "But not out of your lives!" Was there an unspoken "Ha! Ha!" as he metaphorically wrapped his cloak around himself and vanished... for now.

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