Category Archives: Political

“Mandelson dominates the Field with a brilliant Third Man and a couple of Slips…. ...

The publication of Peter Mandelson’s memoirs of New Labour, “The Third Man” gives a fascinating insight into the mind of a great negotiator. It also reveals that even this master negotiator has some weak spots. Peter Mandelson has successfully negotiated his way through more than a dozen years of Labour being in power, displaying enormous deal-making [...]

Allies to soldier on in search of peace-deal ...

Are we any closer to a peace deal in Afghanistan? Probably not, though it’s no surprise to find the beleagured Allies wishing and hoping that a deal was possible after a month in which Nato troops suffered their worst ever losses (102 brave men killed in June). The problem is that the ingredients for a [...]

Can The Odd Couple save the Euro? ...

What next for the Euro? As forecast in this blog, the Euro-zone countries have been forced to stump up a massive rescue package in order to avert a sovereign debt crisis in Greece and other Euro-zone countries. Will that be enough? Possibly not, if the continuing state of unease displayed by the financial markets is [...]

Dont Rock The Vote ...

So, the Tories have struck their deal with the Lib Dems. Now the question is “will it last?” As suggested in my last blog, each of David Cameron and Nick Clegg has focused on the other’s personal needs for achievement, belonging and reassurance to help close the gap between the organisational “wants” of the two sides. [...]

How Cameron can say "I don’t agree with Nick" and still clinch a deal. ...

All the many articles about the post-election deal discussions between the Tories and the Lib Dems, and the potential discussions between the Lib Dems and Labour, have focussed on the surface “wants” of the parties involved. Commentators have been discussing where the parties have differences and/or common ground in relation to issues such as Electoral [...]

Greek Chorus of disapproval abates, but the Song remains the Same for other countries ...

As previously predicted in this blog the Euro-zone countries have had to step in with a meaningful deal offer of real cash in order to avoid a financial meltdown in Greece. Will it buy time for Greece? Probably. Will it prevent debt contagion spreading to other Euro-zone countries with weak economies? Absolutely not. The Greek [...]

What’s My Line? ...

“That’s my bottom line” is an oft-used phrase in negotiation, which is frequently used by negotiators when they have no idea what their real bottom-line actually is. However, the main political parties better know what their actual “bottom line” is before the horse-trading starts if there is to be a hung Parliament. If they don’t, [...]

Will it be “Deal” or “No Deal” for the British electorate? ...

When you make a “bid” in a negotiation, the key to success is that people believe that you mean what you say. If they don’t believe you then your bid lacks credibility and won’t get you the deal that you want.  That is why the scandal over MP’s expenses has created a problem for all [...]

Bitter taste of Kraft is not so sweet for Cadbury ...

I have blogged before about the pushy attitude to negotiations of Kraft and its CEO Irene Rosenfield in their takeover of Cadbury (see February 2nd piece below). This attitude seems to have continued since the sale. The Cadbury plant at Somerdale, which Kraft had said it would preserve, is closing, with a loss of 400 jobs – [...]

A deal is struck in Northern Ireland ...

Northern Ireland deal is struck despite Gordon’s negotiating Hash Brown. So, Sinn Fein and the Democratic Unionist Party seem to have arrived at a deal that enables power-sharing in Northern Ireland to proceed, after 120 hours of negotiation over two rather fraught weeks. Despite the deal being heralded with high-sounding rhetoric from the likes of Gordon [...]