There is a good video of Peter Mandelson’s speech at the Labour Conference in Brighton. My interest is not in what he says, but the way he holds his thumb.  At the start the thumb can be seen pointing away from the hand, a symbol of independence of will, but towards the end, the thumb retreats to a position inside the hand, pointing in the same direction as the fingers. Normally when the thumb is held inside the palm, it is a sign of submission and a lack of confidence. But having seen a photo of the main lines on his right hand, which are very clearly delineated, and his nails are not bitten in contrast to Gordon Brown, something else is going on.

Mandelson’s knowledge of the dark arts of spin and strategy is not really delivering the goods at the moment – even he said Labour is likely to lose the next general election – I would say that he is endeavouring to conceal his true intentions to his own party.