The Secret Mulroney Tapes: Unguarded Confessions of a Prime Minister

Thanks to the headlines splashed across the front pages this week by the bombshell launch of The Secret Mulroney Tapes, we now know a great deal of what Brian Mulroney was thinking while he was prime minister, and a lot of it isn't pretty. But a more careful reading of the explosive, profane book reveals it as more than a hatchet job. ..

If Brian Mulroney has any sense of gratitude at all, he will profusely thank Peter Newman for the bad language in this book because it will deftly divert public attention from Mulroney's amazing ineptitude. "I've been manoeuvering this thing for two years, to be succeeded by Campbell," Mulroney said of Kim Campbell, who led the Conservatives from 169 seats in Parliament to 2 in the 1993 election. That, more than any four letter words, is the absolute worst language in the book. It shows Mulroney's total incompetence as a leader, and may well seal his fate as the worst prime minister in Canadian history. Politics is all about how you treat other people. Mulroney knew Campbell was incompetent but said she would improve because, "If you're smart, you'll grow into it. Some prime ministers have not. Dief, I think it's fair to say, did not. Dief was too old." Well, I lived in Canada when Dief was prime minister. I voted for Dief. I agonized over his indecisions. But I don't remember The Chief leading the Conservatives from 169 seats in parliament to 2. I do remember Dief fought for his vision of Canada until the day he died. Dief never walked away from the land he loved. Dief was indomitable. Mulroney was inept. Political biography is less about "great deeds" than the personality to succeed or fail. The personal image of Mulroney in this book is that of someone with less rapport than a McDonald's clerk who dismisses a customer with the mandatory "thank-you-have-a-nice-day-come-again" mantra while walking away from the counter. Mulroney knew all the right words, but I couldn't find any sense of empathy. There was no inner passion about doing what is best for Canada. It's a "Me-Me-Me Generation" book about a man who seems utterly befuddled to learn that no one likes him as much as he loves himself. Reading it reminds me of the interminable accounts of the last days of Hitler or Hussein, trapped in an underground bunker with no chance of escape. However, there's two differences: Hitler knew the end was near, and everyone was trying to escape. Mulroney, in comparison, seems clueless. It's shattering, because I like a lot of things Mulroney tried and on occasion did, such as Meech Lake and NAFTA. His assessments of Trudeau and Chretien are right on the mark; but, as incisive as he is in assessing his antagonists, he was incapable of understanding his own strengths, weaknesses, foibles and faults. It's rare that any journalist gets such a penetrating insight to the character of a politician. Newman had a choice of saying Mulroney was an insensitive clod with less personal charm than a dead codfish, or letting Mulroney say it in his own words. He chose the wiser course of just quoting Mulroney justly. After all, there's an old saying in politics, "Never murder a man who's committing suicide." In Mulroney's own words, this book depicts a political career as a fatal plunge into the Politics of Me which produced the m