Peter Mandelson Has Christian Bale Moment Over Starbucks’ “Downward Spiral” UK Jibe

Frothy words overflowed from the lid of Starbucks chairman Howard Schultz’s mouth on Tuesday, saying the place that concerns him the most in the economic crisis is Western Europe, and specifically the UK, which is “in a spiral”. The words were soon met by an uninhibited tirade from Business Secretary Peter Mandelson. 

At a diplomatic cocktail reception in New York, Mandy was heard responding: “Why should I have this guy running down the country? Who the fuck is he? How the hell are they [Starbucks] doing?” – definitely on the way to having a full-blown Christian Bale moment.  

The remark obviously was a dig at Starbucks’ current financial state; they announced the closure of almost 1,000 stores in recent months at a cost of nearly 7,000 jobs. The chain also suffered a 69% plunge in profits. 

The bantering between the two 55-year-old power mongers continued throughout the day. Schultz continued his theme: “Unemployment, the sub-prime mortgage crisis, particularly in the UK, and I think consumer confidence, particularly in the UK, is very, very poor.” The UK affected by sub-prime? Only indirectly from you lot, Chaz!

The tall double no-foam non-fat latte-swilling billionaire said it had taken a year to 18 months from the beginning of the credit crunch for consumer confidence to fracture in the US, but the deterioration had happened far more quickly in Europe once financial cracks appeared.

Mandelson, who had got the rage out by this time and became rather more diplomatic, responded: “The UK is not spiraling, although I have noticed that Starbucks is in a great deal of trouble. But that may be because of their overexposure given the state of the market. So please do not project Starbucks onto the UK economy as a whole.” ”YOU’RE A NICE GUY!”, he later added.

Their ages and wealth brackets may be similar but that is where the adversaries’ similarities end. Schultz is a Brooklyn native raised in a subsidized housing project, and built Starbucks up from an tiny store to a global high street chain. The classic Horatio Alger myth, and his little shop now infests street corners all over the globe. 

On the other had there is Mandelson, who was fed with a silver spoon growing up in North London into Labour Party royalty. During his career he had to resign twice from the cabinet. The first was for failing to disclose a home loan from Geoffrey Robinson and then over the Hinduja brothers’ passport application and the complications arising from that. Now on his third round in spotlight throwing around the f-word in public venues doesn’t seem to be a step toward a better rep. But to use Mandelson’s catch phrase, he’s “a fighter, not a quitter”. 

Official figures suggest that Britain’s economy shrank by 1.5% in the fourth quarter of 2008 in comparison to the third and unemployment is nearing the 2 million mark. So we have established that both Starbucks and the UK are not doing well right now, but how people in a pickle love to play the blame game. I think we can assume Mandy and Schultz are through, professionally.

Posted by Trista Orchard in Hot Money | February 19, 2009 10:38AM |