Mandy helps Spielberg

British politician Lord Mandelson has appeared in a video promoting 'Lincoln', the Oscar-nominated biopic about 19th-century Republican President, Abraham Lincoln, starring Daniel Day-Lewis.

Spielberg's film focuses on the last four months of Lincoln's life as he manoeuvred and cajoled to get the 13th amendment passed, banning slavery.

In the video - part of a strategy by 20th Century Fox, the film's international distributor, to boost its appeal across mainland Europe - Lord Mandelson pays tribute to Lincoln's "pragmatism". He also compares it to his own efforts to make Labour electable in the mid-1990s.

"When I look back at Lincoln's presidency and what he had to struggle through, I see a man who had a great sense of conviction, of moral certitude, [a sense] that he was right  and [that] changes that needed to be made were absolutely necessary for the US at the time.

"But he was also somebody who was also prepared to use pragmatic means to arrive at his goal. And recruiting his rivals and adversaries to the cause he was pursuing - giving them a good reason to agree with him rather than to stand aside. This is the art and skill of politics."

Former EU commissioner, Lord Mandelson, was one of several political figures including Ed Miliband, the Labour leader, and Nick Clegg, the deputy prime minister, who were invited to private previews of the film.

The video can currently be seen on YouTube.