Blunder Buses: Jaguar S-Type

‘Hello. I’m Peter Mandelson’. And indeed he was, standing right in front of me with a broad grin and an extended hand. Which I shook with bemusement, too wrong-footed to ask one of the stars of the yet-to-be-seriously-sullied New Labour government a penetratingly revealing question.

Mandelson was standing close to the entrance of a very impressive marquee, guests filing past like water surging around a rock jutting from a riverbed. That way he could spot important names heading his way, presumably interspersed with interactions with the occasional insignificant guest to avoid boredom.

What’s this got to do with camshafts, soft-feel fascias and premium segment market share ambitions? Quite a lot at that particular moment, for we were both attending a static preview of the 1998 Jaguar S-Type, a scene of much noisy razzmatazz, warm champagne and earnest networking. The launch of this car signalled not only the arrival of an important new model, but also very positive signs of a famous British company undergoing transformation at the hands of its American owner Ford. This was a big, good news event, which doubtless explained the presence of the New Labour spin doctor extraordinaire.