Documentary following Labour cabinet minister Peter Mandelson in the run up to the May 2010 General Election. Mandelson was influential in the rise of New Labour in the 1990s, acting as the Campaign Director for the 1997 General Election which brought Tony Blair to power on a landslide. A controversial figure, Mandelson twice resigned from the cabinet under Blair when facing accusations of corruption and was described by William Hague as 'the most powerful unelected deputy since Henry VIII appointed Cardinal Wolsey' on his return to cabinet in 2008. This documentary benefits from behind the scenes access and interviews granted by Mandelson to provide an in-depth profile of one of the shrewdest and most influential politicians in modern Britain.

Our image of the civil servant has been implanted indelibly in our minds by Sir Humphrey in Yes, Minister. But as this fascinating and important memoir tells us, the real life of the mandarin is very different. With disarming candour, delightful humour and impressive memory, Hayden Phillips describes the career of a man who from his earliest days was connected to events that are now part of the history of British politics in the second half of the 20th century. Educated at Cambridge and Yale, Phillips became a civil servant in 1967 as an Assistant Principal in the Administrative class. His extraordinarily varied career was defined by working for Roy Jenkins when he was Home Secretary and later President of the European Commissioner in Brussels, IRA bombings, the Iranian Embassy siege, sending police to Zimbabwe to oversee the election, training civil servants, a stint as Deputy Secretary in the Treasury, the creation of the National Lottery for John Major, the Windsor Castle fire, the of Tate Modern, the Millennium Dome, press regulation, Princess Diana's funeral. There can be few mandarins who have taken to the boards as Sir Humphrey or had a role in a James Bond film. No surprise that, in retirement Hayden Phillips was Chairman of the National Theatre. This is a life of variety, excitement and drama that defies all the cliched ideas about those who run the country and what they do. Phillips tells an important story filled with pen portraits of politicians and others with whom he worked on a daily basis that shows us what life at the centre of power is like. It is also the picture of a talented, charming, dedicated and fortunate man who has contributed so much to our national life.

In the sweep of human history, the European Union stands out as one of humankind's most ambitious endeavours. It encompasses half a billion people, twenty-seven member states, twenty-three languages, and an economy valued at over $15 trillion. Modern Europe's stunning achievements aside, its sovereign debt crisis has shaken the world's largest political and economic union to its core. Can the federal institutions and shared values of Europeans meet the challenges of debt crisis that are as much political as economic? Or, are Europe's current woes indicative of a series of deep structural faults that foreshadow the breakup and failure of the European Union? In this edition of the Munk Debates -- Canada's premier international debate series -- former EU Commissioner Lord Peter Mandelson and EU parliament co-president of the Greens/European Free Alliance Group Daniel Cohn-Bendit, German publisher-editor and author Josef Joffe, and renowned economic historian Niall Ferguson debate the future of the EU -- one of the most pressing global issues of our day. For the first time ever, this electrifying debate, which played to a sold-out audience, is now available in print, along with candid interviews with Niall Ferguson and Lord Peter Mandelson. As youth unemployment rates flare, currencies collapse, and political alliances erode, the Munk Debate on Europe tries to answer: Has the great European experiment failed?