We’ve been hearing a lot about Peter Mandelson recently, but despite the amount of copy I think there’s a more important issue behind what we’ve been hearing. Newspapers from the Independent to the Telegraph have weighed in on the Whitehall mix-up that had Lord Mandelson “running Britain” from Corfu in Gordon Brown’s absence. In response Mandelson called these reports of him “absolute nonsense”, insisting that Gordon Brown remains the man in charge. The criticisms largely addressed the worry that someone in charge couldn’t do an adequate job from a Greek island, while Mandelson and Downing Street’s reassurances were designed to assure us that he wasn’t actually ‘in charge’ during the Prime Minister’s holiday. The assumption behind it all seems to be that, like an errant child, our country will simply cease to function if left to it's own devices.

It might be with personality politics here to stay our media (encouraged by those politicians whose careers have benefited from this kind of politics) can no longer conceive of reporting news of government decisions without a clear figure to hang the praise or blame on. Or possibly it is simply our attitude towards individual responsibility these days that requires a central figure - after all, it is difficult to hold people to account if responsibility is too diffused. I suspect, however, that most people can see that it goes beyond that.

There is a cynicism at work among much of our political class, an attitude that holds that people can’t be trusted to get on with their lives without being told what to do from on high. While the papers referenced above are by no means the worst at propagating this attitude, cases like Mandelson in Corfu illustrate the need to look clearly at what exactly we are criticising, and to question our assumptions. Does Britain really need a figure “in charge”? One of the first steps towards a Government comfortable with letting go of power and allowing people to be in charge of their own lives is challenging the prevailing attitude of mistrust towards the public, and assumptions about the need for one strong man or woman to run the country - whether it be from an office in Westminster or a house in Corfu.