Peter Benjamin Mandelson, Baron Mandelson,
PCHer Majesty's Most Honourable Privy Council, usually known simply as the Privy Council, is a formal body of advisers to the Sovereign in the United Kingdom...
(born 21 October 1953) is a
BritishThe British are citizens of the United Kingdom, of the Isle of Man, any of the Channel Islands, or of any of the British overseas territories, and their descendants...
Labour PartyThe Labour Party is a centre-left democratic socialist party in the United Kingdom. It surpassed the Liberal Party in general elections during the early 1920s, forming minority governments under Ramsay MacDonald in 1924 and 1929-1931. The party was in a wartime coalition from 1940 to 1945, after...
politicianA politician, political leader, or political figure is an individual who is involved in influencing public policy and decision making...
, who was the Member of Parliament (MP) for
HartlepoolHartlepool is a borough constituency represented in the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. It elects one Member of Parliament by the first-past-the-post system of election.- Boundaries :...
from 1992 to
2004On 23 July 2004, the Member of Parliament for Hartlepool, in England, Peter Mandelson , was nominated as the United Kingdom's new European Commissioner. On 8 September he accepted the office of Steward of the Manor of Northstead, thereby disqualifying himself from Parliament and causing a by-election...
, served in a number of Cabinet positions under both
Tony BlairAnthony Charles Lynton Blair is a former British Labour Party politician who served as the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 2 May 1997 to 27 June 2007. He was the Member of Parliament for Sedgefield from 1983 to 2007 and Leader of the Labour Party from 1994 to 2007...
and
Gordon BrownJames Gordon Brown is a British Labour Party politician who was the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom and Leader of the Labour Party from 2007 until 2010. He previously served as Chancellor of the Exchequer in the Labour Government from 1997 to 2007...
, and was a
European CommissionerA European Commissioner is a member of the 27-member European Commission. Each Member within the college holds a specific portfolio and are led by the President of the European Commission...
. He was a key architect in the rebranding of the Labour Party as "New Labour" and its subsequent landslide victory in the
1997 general electionThe United Kingdom general election, 1997 was held on 1 May 1997, more than five years after the previous election on 9 April 1992, to elect 659 members to the British House of Commons. The Labour Party ended its 18 years in opposition under the leadership of Tony Blair, and won the general...
.
He twice resigned from Tony Blair's government while holding
CabinetThe Cabinet of the United Kingdom is the collective decision-making body of Her Majesty's Government in the United Kingdom, composed of the Prime Minister and some 22 Cabinet Ministers, the most senior of the government ministers....
positions. After his second resignation, he served as the
European Commissioner for TradeThe European Commissioner for Trade is the member of the European Commission responsible for the European Union's common commercial policy...
from 2004 to 2008. He rejoined the government when he was made a
life peerIn the United Kingdom, life peers are appointed members of the Peerage whose titles cannot be inherited. Nowadays life peerages, always of baronial rank, are created under the Life Peerages Act 1958 and entitle the holders to seats in the House of Lords, presuming they meet qualifications such as...
by the Queen and took his seat in the
House of LordsThe House of Lords is the upper house of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. Like the House of Commons, it meets in the Palace of Westminster....
on 13 October 2008.
Early life
Peter Mandelson was born in London in 1953, where his father was the advertising manager at
The Jewish ChronicleThe Jewish Chronicle is a London-based Jewish newspaper. Founded in 1841, it is the oldest continuously published Jewish newspaper in the world.-Publication data and readership figures:...
. On his mother's side, he is the grandson of
Herbert MorrisonHerbert Stanley Morrison, Baron Morrison of Lambeth, CH, PC was a British Labour politician; he held a various number of senior positions in the Cabinet, including Home Secretary, Foreign Secretary and Deputy Prime Minister.-Early life:Morrison was the son of a police constable and was born in...
, the
London County CouncilLondon County Council was the principal local government body for the County of London, throughout its 1889–1965 existence, and the first London-wide general municipal authority to be directly elected. It covered the area today known as Inner London and was replaced by the Greater London Council...
leader and Labour cabinet minister. He was educated at
Hendon County Grammar SchoolHendon School is a mixed comprehensive secondary school in the London Borough of Barnet. It specialises in languages, offering Japanese amongst others to its students.-Overview:...
1965–72. He read Philosophy, Politics and Economics at
St Catherine's College, OxfordSt Catherine's College, often called Catz, is one of the constituent colleges of the University of Oxford in England. Its motto is Nova et Vetera...
(1973–1976) and in the late 1970s, became director of the
British Youth CouncilThe British Youth Council is a UK charity working to empower young people to have a say and be heard. Run by young people for young people, BYC exists to represent the views of young people to government and decision-makers at a local, national, European and international level; and to promote the...
. As BYC director, he was a delegate in 1978 to the
SovietThe Soviet Union , officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics , was a constitutionally socialist state that existed in Eurasia between 1922 and 1991....
-organised
World Festival of Youth and StudentsThe World Festival of Youth and Students is an international event, organized by the World Federation of Democratic Youth , a left-wing youth organization, jointly with the International Union of Students since 1947....
in
HavanaHavana is the capital city, province, major port, and leading commercial centre of Cuba. The city proper has a population of 2.1 million inhabitants, and it spans a total of — making it the largest city in the Caribbean region, and the most populous...
, Cuba, with
Arthur ScargillArthur Scargill is a British politician who was President of the National Union of Mineworkers from 1982 to 2002, leading the union through the 1984–85 miners' strike, a key event in British labour and political history...
and several future Labour cabinet colleagues. In his youth, he was also a member of the Young Communist League. He was elected to
Lambeth Borough CouncilLambeth is a district of south London, England, and part of the London Borough of Lambeth. It is situated southeast of Charing Cross.-Toponymy:...
in September 1979, but retired in 1982, disillusioned with the state of Labour politics.
Media and public relations
He worked as a television producer at
London Weekend TelevisionLondon Weekend Television was the name of the ITV network franchise holder for Greater London and the Home Counties including south Suffolk, middle and east Hampshire, Oxfordshire, south Bedfordshire, south Northamptonshire, parts of Herefordshire & Worcestershire, Warwickshire, east Dorset and...
on
Weekend WorldWeekend World is a British television political series, made by London Weekend Television and broadcast from 1972 to 1988.Created by John Birt not long after he moved to LWT, the series was broadcast on the ITV network at lunchtimes on Sundays...
before Labour Party leader
Neil KinnockNeil Gordon Kinnock, Baron Kinnock is a Welsh politician belonging to the Labour Party. He served as a Member of Parliament from 1970 until 1995 and as Labour Leader and Leader of Her Majesty's Loyal Opposition from 1983 until 1992 - his leadership of the party during nearly nine years making him...
appointed him as Director of Communications in 1985, with a view to his overseeing Labour's campaign for the
next general electionThe United Kingdom general election of 1987 was held on 11 June 1987, to elect 650 members to the British House of Commons. The election was the third consecutive election victory for the Conservative Party under the leadership of Margaret Thatcher, who became the first Prime Minister since the 2nd...
, which was ultimately held in June 1987 and ended in a third successive win for
Margaret Thatcher'sMargaret Hilda Thatcher, Baroness Thatcher, was Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1979 to 1990...
ConservativeThe Conservative Party, formally the Conservative and Unionist Party, is a centre-right political party in the United Kingdom that adheres to the philosophies of conservatism and British unionism. It is the largest political party in the UK, and is currently the largest single party in the House...
government, although the Conservative majority was slightly reduced as Labour gained 20 seats.
Mandelson was able to secure close friendships within the Labour Party because of uncle Alexander Butler, who had worked alongside many important Labour politicians during the 1960s. In this role he was one of the first people in Britain to whom the term "
spin doctorIn public relations, spin is a form of propaganda, achieved through providing an interpretation of an event or campaign to persuade public opinion in favor or against a certain organization or public figure...
" was applied; he was thus called 'the
Prince of DarknessPrince of Darkness is a box set of four CDs by Ozzy Osbourne released in 2005. The first two CDs are Osbourne's solo work containing various studio recordings, live tracks, b-sides, demos and outtakes, and the last two CDs are duets on disc three and cover songs on disc four...
' and, after his ennoblement, 'the Dark Lord', nicknames he apparently enjoys having.
In 1986, Mandelson ran the campaign at the
Fulham by-electionThe Fulham by-election, in Fulham, on 10 April 1986 was held following the death of the Conservative Member of Parliament Martin Stevens on 10 January that year...
in which Labour defeated the Conservative Party. He then managed the Labour Party's
1987 general electionThe United Kingdom general election of 1987 was held on 11 June 1987, to elect 650 members to the British House of Commons. The election was the third consecutive election victory for the Conservative Party under the leadership of Margaret Thatcher, who became the first Prime Minister since the 2nd...
campaign.
He is author (with
Roger LiddleRoger John Liddle, Lord Liddle is a British political adviser and consultant who is principally known for being Special Adviser on European matters to Tony Blair and for working together with Peter Mandelson on books outlining the political philosophy of the Labour Party under Blair's leadership...
) of The Blair Revolution (1996). More recently, he contributed to the book
The City in Europe and the WorldThe City in Europe and the World is a 2005 collection of essays examining the relationship between the City of London's financial markets, politics, government, and Europe, edited by Stephen Barber and with a foreword by Peter Mandelson....
(2005).
Mandelson has been given the nickname "Mandy" in the popular media.
Political career
He ceased being a Labour Party official in 1990 when he was selected as Labour candidate for the safe seat of Hartlepool. He was elected to the House of Commons at the
1992 general electionThe United Kingdom general election of 1992 was held on 9 April 1992, and was the fourth consecutive victory for the Conservative Party. This election result was one of the biggest surprises in 20th Century politics, as polling leading up to the day of the election showed Labour under leader Neil...
.
Shadow cabinet
He made several speeches outlining his strong support for the European Union. He was close to two
Shadow CabinetThe Shadow Cabinet is a senior group of opposition spokespeople in the Westminster system of government who together under the leadership of the Leader of the Opposition form an alternative cabinet to the government's, whose members shadow or mark each individual member of the government...
members –
Gordon BrownJames Gordon Brown is a British Labour Party politician who was the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom and Leader of the Labour Party from 2007 until 2010. He previously served as Chancellor of the Exchequer in the Labour Government from 1997 to 2007...
and
Tony BlairAnthony Charles Lynton Blair is a former British Labour Party politician who served as the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 2 May 1997 to 27 June 2007. He was the Member of Parliament for Sedgefield from 1983 to 2007 and Leader of the Labour Party from 1994 to 2007...
– each regarded as potential future leaders, though he was sidelined during the brief period when
John SmithJohn Smith was a British Labour Party politician who served as Leader of the Labour Party from July 1992 until his sudden death from a heart attack in May 1994...
led the party. After Smith's sudden death in 1994, Mandelson chose to back Blair for the leadership, believing him to be a superior communicator to Brown and played a leading role in the leadership campaign. This created antagonism between Mandelson and Brown, though they were considered allies in the Labour Party.
He became a close ally and trusted adviser to Tony Blair. He was Labour's election Campaign Director for the
1997 general electionThe United Kingdom general election, 1997 was held on 1 May 1997, more than five years after the previous election on 9 April 1992, to elect 659 members to the British House of Commons. The Labour Party ended its 18 years in opposition under the leadership of Tony Blair, and won the general...
, which Labour won by a landslide.
Government minister
He was appointed as a
Minister without PortfolioA minister without portfolio is either a government minister with no specific responsibilities or a minister that does not head a particular ministry...
in the
Cabinet OfficeThe Cabinet Office is a department of the Government of the United Kingdom responsible for supporting the Prime Minister and Cabinet of the United Kingdom....
, where his job was to co-ordinate within government. A few months later, he also acquired responsibility for the
Millennium DomeThe Millennium Dome, colloquially referred to simply as The Dome or even The O2 Arena, is the original name of a large dome-shaped building, originally used to house the Millennium Experience, a major exhibition celebrating the beginning of the third millennium...
, after Blair decided to go ahead with the project despite the opposition of most of the Cabinet (including the
Secretary of State for Culture, Media and SportThe Secretary of State for Culture, Olympics, Media and Sport is a United Kingdom cabinet position with responsibility for the Department for Culture, Media and Sport. The role was created in 1992 by John Major as Secretary of State for National Heritage...
who had been running it). Jennie Page, the Dome Chief Executive, was abruptly sacked after a farcical opening night. She gave evidence to a House of Commons Select Committee for Culture and Heritage in June 2000. In what was seen as a reference to the close interest in the Dome from Mandelson, known at the time as so-called "Dome Secretary", and his successor Lord Falconer of Thoroton, Ms Page told the committee: "I made several attempts to persuade ministers that standing back from the Dome would be good for them as well as good for the Dome".
In July 1998, he joined the Cabinet as
Secretary of State for Trade and IndustryThe Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills is a cabinet position in the United Kingdom government. Its secondary title is the President of the Board of Trade...
. He launched the Millennium Bug And Electronic Commerce Bill and a Competitiveness White Paper, which he described, as 'bold, far reaching and absolutely necessary'. He also appointed a '
NetThe Internet is a global system of interconnected computer networks that use the standard Internet protocol suite to serve billions of users worldwide...
czar' to lead the UK in what he termed the "new industrial revolution". In 1998 he was appointed a Privy Councillor.
First resignation
Mandelson had bought a home in
Notting HillNotting Hill is an area in London, England, close to the north-western corner of Kensington Gardens, in the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea...
in 1996 with the assistance of an interest-free loan of
£The pound sterling , commonly called the pound, is the official currency of the United Kingdom, its Crown Dependencies and the British Overseas Territories of South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands, British Antarctic Territory and Tristan da Cunha. It is subdivided into 100 pence...
373,000 from
Geoffrey RobinsonGeoffrey Robinson is a British Labour Party politician who has been the Member of Parliament for Coventry North West since 1976. He was Paymaster General from May 1997 to January 1999, resigning after it was revealed that he had lent his government colleague Peter Mandelson £373,000 to buy a house...
, a millionaire Labour MP who was also in the Government, but was subject to an inquiry into his business dealings by Mandelson's department. Mandelson contended that he had deliberately not taken part in any decisions relating to Robinson. He should have declared the loan in the Register of Members' Interests and he resigned on 23 December 1998. Mandelson had also not declared the loan to his building society (the
BritanniaThe Britannia is a financial services institution and trading name of the Co-operative Bank Plc in the United Kingdom.Before the merger with the Co-operative, Britannia was a mutual building society, with headquarters in Leek, Staffordshire...
) although they decided not to take any action, with the CEO stating "I am satisfied that the information given to us at the time of the mortgage application was accurate." Mandelson initially thought he could weather the press storm, but had to resign when it became clear that the Prime Minister thought nothing else would clear the air.
On 16 October 2000 it was reported that Geoffrey Robinson, the Labour MP, "accused Peter Mandelson of lying to the Commons about the home loan affair that cost both of them their Government jobs."
He was out of the Cabinet for ten months. In October 1999, he was appointed
Secretary of State for Northern IrelandThe Secretary of State for Northern Ireland, informally the Northern Ireland Secretary, is the principal secretary of state in the government of the United Kingdom with responsibilities for Northern Ireland. The Secretary of State is a Minister of the Crown who is accountable to the Parliament of...
, replacing
Mo MowlamMarjorie "Mo" Mowlam was a British Labour Party politician. She was the Member of Parliament for Redcar from 1987 to 2001 and served in the Cabinet as Secretary of State for Northern Ireland, Minister for the Cabinet Office and Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster.Mowlam's time as Northern...
. In his very first speech in the post he mistakenly referred to himself as the "Secretary of State for Ireland." During his tenure he oversaw the creation of the
devolved legislative assemblyThe Northern Ireland Assembly is the devolved legislature of Northern Ireland. It has power to legislate in a wide range of areas that are not explicitly reserved to the Parliament of the United Kingdom, and to appoint the Northern Ireland Executive...
and
power-sharing executiveThe Northern Ireland Executive is the executive arm of the Northern Ireland Assembly, the devolved legislature for Northern Ireland. It is answerable to the Assembly and was established according to the terms of the Northern Ireland Act 1998, which followed the Good Friday Agreement...
, and reform of the
police serviceThe Police Service of Northern Ireland is the police force that serves Northern Ireland. It is the successor to the Royal Ulster Constabulary which, in turn, was the successor to the Royal Irish Constabulary in Northern Ireland....
.
Second resignation
On 24 January 2001, Mandelson resigned from the Government for a second time following accusations of using his position to influence a passport application. He had contacted
Home OfficeThe Home Office is the United Kingdom government department responsible for immigration control, security, and order. As such it is responsible for the police, UK Border Agency, and the Security Service . It is also in charge of government policy on security-related issues such as drugs,...
minister Mike O'Brien on behalf of Srichand Hinduja, an Indian businessman who was seeking British citizenship, and whose family firm was to become the main sponsor of the "Faith Zone" in the
Millennium DomeThe Millennium Dome, colloquially referred to simply as The Dome or even The O2 Arena, is the original name of a large dome-shaped building, originally used to house the Millennium Experience, a major exhibition celebrating the beginning of the third millennium...
. At the time, Hinduja and his brothers were under investigation by the Indian government for alleged involvement in the
Bofors scandalThe Bofors scandal was a major corruption scandal in India in the 1980s; the then Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi and several others were accused of receiving kickbacks from Bofors AB for winning a bid to supply India's 155 mm field howitzer...
. Mandelson insisted he had done nothing wrong and was exonerated by an independent inquiry by Sir Anthony Hammond which concluded that neither Mandelson nor anyone else had acted improperly. The front page headline in
The IndependentThe Independent is a British national morning newspaper published in London by Independent Print Limited, owned by Alexander Lebedev since 2010. It is nicknamed the Indy, while the Sunday edition, The Independent on Sunday, is the Sindy. Launched in 1986, it is one of the youngest UK national daily...
read in part "Passport to Oblivion".
At the
2001 general electionThe United Kingdom general election, 2001 was held on Thursday 7 June 2001 to elect 659 members to the British House of Commons. It was dubbed "the quiet landslide" by the media, as the Labour Party was re-elected with another landslide result and only suffered a net loss of 6 seats...
, Mandelson was challenged by
Arthur ScargillArthur Scargill is a British politician who was President of the National Union of Mineworkers from 1982 to 2002, leading the union through the 1984–85 miners' strike, a key event in British labour and political history...
of the
Socialist Labour PartyThe Socialist Labour Party is a far left socialist political party in the United Kingdom. The party is led by former trade union leader Arthur Scargill, who established it in 1996 as a breakaway from the Labour Party...
and by John Booth, a former Labour Party press officer standing as "Genuine Labour", but Mandelson was re-elected with a large majority. This prompted him to make an exuberant acceptance speech, which was televised live, in which he declared that "I'm a fighter, not a quitter" and referred to his "inner steel".
Despite Labour success in the June 2001 general election, a third appointment to the Cabinet did not happen and he indicated his interest in becoming the United Kingdom's
European CommissionerA European Commissioner is a member of the 27-member European Commission. Each Member within the college holds a specific portfolio and are led by the President of the European Commission...
when the new Commission was established in 2004. Both of Britain's Commissioners,
Neil KinnockNeil Gordon Kinnock, Baron Kinnock is a Welsh politician belonging to the Labour Party. He served as a Member of Parliament from 1970 until 1995 and as Labour Leader and Leader of Her Majesty's Loyal Opposition from 1983 until 1992 - his leadership of the party during nearly nine years making him...
and
Chris PattenChristopher Francis Patten, Baron Patten of Barnes, CH, PC , is the last Governor of British Hong Kong, a former British Conservative politician, and the current chairman of the BBC Trust....
, were due to stand down. Appointment as a Commissioner would require his resignation from Parliament and therefore a by-election in his Hartlepool constituency. His appointment was announced in the summer and on 8 September 2004 Mandelson resigned his seat through appointment as Steward of the Manor of Northstead. Labour won the subsequent
Hartlepool by-electionOn 23 July 2004, the Member of Parliament for Hartlepool, in England, Peter Mandelson , was nominated as the United Kingdom's new European Commissioner. On 8 September he accepted the office of Steward of the Manor of Northstead, thereby disqualifying himself from Parliament and causing a by-election...
with a majority of more than 2,000.
During the Parliamentary expenses scandal of 2009, the Daily Telegraph raised questions about the timing of Mandelson’s second home allowance claim, dating from 2004, saying, "Lord Mandelson billed the taxpayer for almost £3,000 of work on his constituency home in Hartlepool less than a week after announcing his decision to stand down as an MP." Mandelson said in a statement, "The work done was necessary maintenance. All claims made were reasonable and submitted consistent with Parliamentary rules."
European commissioner
On 22 November 2004, Mandelson became Britain's European Commissioner, taking the
trade portfolioThe European Commissioner for Trade is the member of the European Commission responsible for the European Union's common commercial policy...
.
On 22 April 2005,
The TimesThe Times is a British daily national newspaper, first published in London in 1785 under the title The Daily Universal Register . The Times and its sister paper The Sunday Times are published by Times Newspapers Limited, a subsidiary since 1981 of News International...
revealed that Mandelson had spent the previous New Year's Eve on the yacht of
Paul AllenPaul Gardner Allen is an American business magnate, investor, and philanthropist. Allen co-founded Microsoft with Bill Gates...
, the co-founder of
MicrosoftMicrosoft Corporation is an American public multinational corporation headquartered in Redmond, Washington, USA that develops, manufactures, licenses, and supports a wide range of products and services predominantly related to computing through its various product divisions...
, which was at the centre of a major EU investigation, although it did not allege impropriety.
During the summer of 2008, Mandelson had a widely publicised disagreement with
Nicolas SarkozyNicolas Sarkozy is the 23rd and current President of the French Republic and ex officio Co-Prince of Andorra. He assumed the office on 16 May 2007 after defeating the Socialist Party candidate Ségolène Royal 10 days earlier....
, the President of France. Sarkozy accused him of trying to sell out European farmers and appeared to blame his handling of the Doha round of trade talks for the "no" vote in the Irish referendum on the
Treaty of LisbonThe Treaty of Lisbon of 1668 was a peace treaty between Portugal and Spain, concluded at Lisbon on 13 February 1668, through the mediation of England, in which Spain recognized the sovereignty of Portugal's new ruling dynasty, the House of Braganza....
. Mandelson said his position at world trade talks had been undermined and told the
BBCThe British Broadcasting Corporation is a British public service broadcaster. Its headquarters is at Broadcasting House in the City of Westminster, London. It is the largest broadcaster in the world, with about 23,000 staff...
he did not start the row, saying, "I stood up for myself, I'm not to be bullied." He said he believed the row was over but renewed his warnings on
protectionismProtectionism is the economic policy of restraining trade between states through methods such as tariffs on imported goods, restrictive quotas, and a variety of other government regulations designed to allow "fair competition" between imports and goods and services produced domestically.This...
.
In 2008,
melamineMelamine is an organic base and a trimer of cyanamide, with a 1,3,5-triazine skeleton. Like cyanamide, it contains 66% nitrogen by mass and, if mixed with resins, has fire retardant properties due to its release of nitrogen gas when burned or charred, and has several other industrial uses....
added to
milk in ChinaThe 2008 Chinese milk scandal was a food safety incident in the People's Republic of China, involving milk and infant formula, and other food materials and components, adulterated with melamine....
caused kidney stones and other ailments in thousands of Chinese children, and killed at least six. To show his confidence in Chinese dairy products, Mandelson drank a glass of Chinese yoghurt in front of reporters. The following week, he was hospitalised for a kidney stone; the events were probably unconnected.
In October 2008, Mandelson was reported to have maintained private contacts over several years with Russian oligarch
Oleg DeripaskaOleg Vladimirovich Deripaska is the Russian Chief executive officer of Basic Element company and a member of the Board of Directors and CEO of United Company RUSAL, a Russian aluminium industry company...
, most recently on holiday in August 2008 on Deripaska's yacht at Taverna Agni on the Greek island of
CorfuCorfu is a Greek island in the Ionian Sea. It is the second largest of the Ionian Islands, and, including its small satellite islands, forms the edge of the northwestern frontier of Greece. The island is part of the Corfu regional unit, and is administered as a single municipality. The...
. News of the contacts sparked criticism because, as European Union trade commissioner, Mandelson had been responsible for two decisions to cut aluminium tariffs that had benefited Deripaska's United Company RusAl. Mandelson denied that there had been a
conflict of interestA conflict of interest occurs when an individual or organization is involved in multiple interests, one of which could possibly corrupt the motivation for an act in the other....
and insisted that he had never discussed aluminium tariffs with Deripaska. On 26 October 2008, the
Shadow Foreign SecretaryIn British politics, the shadow foreign secretary is a position within the opposition's shadow cabinet that deals mainly with issues surrounding the Foreign Office; such things are relations with other nations, if elected, the designated person may be slated to become the new Foreign...
William HagueWilliam Jefferson Hague is the British Foreign Secretary and First Secretary of State. He served as Leader of the Conservative Party from June 1997 to September 2001...
claimed the "whole country" wanted "transparency" about Mandelson's previous meetings with Deripaska. In response, Prime Minister
Gordon BrownJames Gordon Brown is a British Labour Party politician who was the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom and Leader of the Labour Party from 2007 until 2010. He previously served as Chancellor of the Exchequer in the Labour Government from 1997 to 2007...
said Mandelson's dealings with Deripaska had been "found to be above board". Mandelson said that meeting business figures from "across the range" in emerging economies was part of his brief as EU trade commissioner. On 29 October 2008, while Mandelson was on a ministerial visit to Moscow, it was alleged in the British press that, head of security at Deripaska's company Basic Element
Valery PechenkinValery Pavlovich Pechyonkin is a Russian businessman and security services official.He graduated from Lugansk Machine-Building Institute and KGB Higher School.Until 2000 he had worked for the KGB and successor organizations to it...
had organised a swift entry visa for Mandelson when he turned up in Moscow to visit Deripaska in 2005.
In October 2008 he left his post as Trade Commissioner to return to UK politics. As a former EU commissioner, Mandelson is entitled to a £31,000 pension when he reaches the age of 65 years. While this is contingent on a "duty of loyalty to the Communities" which applies also after his term in office, Mandelson's spokesperson denied there is a conflict of interest.
Return to cabinet
On 3 October 2008, as part of Gordon Brown's cabinet reshuffle, it was announced amid some controversy that Mandelson would return to government in the re-drawn post of Business Secretary, and would be made a
life peerIn the United Kingdom, life peers are appointed members of the Peerage whose titles cannot be inherited. Nowadays life peerages, always of baronial rank, are created under the Life Peerages Act 1958 and entitle the holders to seats in the House of Lords, presuming they meet qualifications such as...
, entitling him to a seat in the
House of LordsThe House of Lords is the upper house of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. Like the House of Commons, it meets in the Palace of Westminster....
. On 13 October 2008 he was created Baron Mandelson, of
FoyFoy is a hamlet and civil parish in Herefordshire, England, north of Ross-on-Wye. The civil parish of Foy includes Hole-in-the-Wall, and Old Gore, within its boundaries. The ward is intersected by the River Wye....
in the County of
HerefordshireHerefordshire is a historic and ceremonial county in the West Midlands region of England. For Eurostat purposes it is a NUTS 3 region and is one of three counties that comprise the "Herefordshire, Worcestershire and Gloucestershire" NUTS 2 region. It also forms a unitary district known as the...
and of
HartlepoolHartlepool is a town and port in North East England.It was founded in the 7th century AD, around the Northumbrian monastery of Hartlepool Abbey. The village grew during the Middle Ages and developed a harbour which served as the official port of the County Palatine of Durham. A railway link from...
in the County of
DurhamCounty Durham is a ceremonial county and unitary district in north east England. The county town is Durham. The largest settlement in the ceremonial county is the town of Darlington...
, and took his seat in the House of Lords the same day.
Since returning to office, Lord Mandelson has supported the planned Heathrow Airport expansion. On 6 March 2009, the environmental protester
Leila DeenLeila Deen is a British environmentalist, campaigning on the issues of climate change, poverty and water politics. She is most widely known for pouring green custard on the Business Secretary Lord Mandelson in March 2009 in protest against the extension of Heathrow Airport, for which she was...
of anti-aviation group
Plane StupidPlane Stupid is a UK-focused group of environmental protesters who state their aim as wanting to see an end to airport expansion for what it sees as "unnecessary and unsustainable" flights. The organisation has no formal hierarchy, leader, or media figurehead. It is a loose association of...
approached him outside a summit on the government's Low Carbon Industrial Strategy and threw a cup of green custard in his face, in protest over his support for a third runway at Heathrow Airport. The protester was cautioned on 9 April for causing "harassment, alarm or distress".
In a cabinet reshuffle on 5 June 2009, Mandelson was appointed to the honorific office of
First Secretary of StateFirst Secretary of State is an occasionally used title within the Government of the United Kingdom, principally regarded as purely honorific. The title, which implies seniority over all other Secretaries of State, has no specific powers or authority attached to it beyond that of any other Secretary...
, and to the position of
Lord President of the CouncilThe Lord President of the Council is the fourth of the Great Officers of State of the United Kingdom, ranking beneath the Lord High Treasurer and above the Lord Privy Seal. The Lord President usually attends each meeting of the Privy Council, presenting business for the monarch's approval...
. It was also announced that the
Department for Innovation, Universities and SkillsThe Department for Innovation, Universities and Skills was a UK government department created on 28 June 2007 to take over some of the functions of the Department of Education and Skills and of the Department of Trade and Industry. In June 2009 it was merged into the newly formed Department for...
would be merged into his, giving him the new title of Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, and that he would continue as President of the Board of Trade.
Mandelson was a member of 35 of the 43 Cabinet committees and subcommittees. An opinion poll conducted by the centre-left think tank
CompassCompass is a left wing pressure group, aligned with the UK Labour Party describing itself as 'An umbrella grouping of the progressive left whose sum is greater than its parts'...
found that Mandelson was proving to be more popular with rank and file party members than Deputy Party Leader
Harriet HarmanHarriet Ruth Harman QC is a British Labour Party politician, who is the Member of Parliament for Camberwell and Peckham, and was MP for the predecessorPeckham constituency from 1982 to 1997...
. This was claimed to be surprising due to Mandelson's previously strained relationship with grassroots members, set against Harman's record of success winning grassroots votes in her election as Deputy. It was also seen to be prophetic, and to tie-in with
Tony BlairAnthony Charles Lynton Blair is a former British Labour Party politician who served as the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 2 May 1997 to 27 June 2007. He was the Member of Parliament for Sedgefield from 1983 to 2007 and Leader of the Labour Party from 1994 to 2007...
's quote that his "mission would be completed when the Labour Party learned to love Mandelson".
Post cabinet
After the
Labour PartyThe Labour Party is a centre-left democratic socialist party in the United Kingdom. It surpassed the Liberal Party in general elections during the early 1920s, forming minority governments under Ramsay MacDonald in 1924 and 1929-1931. The party was in a wartime coalition from 1940 to 1945, after...
failed to secure a majority in the 2010 general election and subsequent resignation of the Labour government, Mandelson published his memoirs "The Third Man: Life at the Heart of New Labour" in July 2010, a little over two months after leaving office. The memoirs were subsequently criticised by Labour leadership contenders Ed and David Miliband and Andy Burnham.
In November 2010, Lord Mandelson became chairman of Global Counsel LLP, a consultancy firm, with the financial support of WPP, the advertising giant. On 21 January 2011, it was announced by that Lord Mandelson would serve as a Senior Adviser to the advisory investment banking firm,
LazardLazard Ltd is the parent company of Lazard Group LLC, a global, independent investment bank with approximately 2,300 employees in 42 cities across 27 countries throughout Europe, North America, Asia, Australia, Central and South America...
Ltd.
In May 2011, it was revealed that there was speculation that Mandelson had been approached by
ChinaChinese civilization may refer to:* China for more general discussion of the country.* Chinese culture* Greater China, the transnational community of ethnic Chinese.* History of China* Sinosphere, the area historically affected by Chinese culture...
to be a candidate for the leadership of the
International Monetary FundThe International Monetary Fund is an organization of 187 countries, working to foster global monetary cooperation, secure financial stability, facilitate international trade, promote high employment and sustainable economic growth, and reduce poverty around the world...
(even though Mandelson cannot stand since he has not been a finance minister or led a central government bank). However, it was then speculated that Mandelson would stand to succeed
Pascal LamyPascal Lamy is the Director-General of the World Trade Organization, a French political advisor, a businessman, and a former European Commissioner for Trade...
as Director General of the
World Trade OrganizationThe World Trade Organization is an organization that intends to supervise and liberalize international trade. The organization officially commenced on January 1, 1995 under the Marrakech Agreement, replacing the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade , which commenced in 1948...
, and has the backing of
David CameronDavid William Donald Cameron is the current Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, First Lord of the Treasury, Minister for the Civil Service and Leader of the Conservative Party. Cameron represents Witney as its Member of Parliament ....
.
Personal life
In October 1998, during his first period in the Cabinet, Mandelson was the centre of media attention when
Matthew ParrisMatthew Francis Parris is a UK-based journalist and former Conservative politician.-Early life and family:...
(
openlyComing out is a figure of speech for lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender people's disclosure of their sexual orientation and/or gender identity....
gayGay is a word that refers to a homosexual person, especially a homosexual male. For homosexual women the specific term is "lesbian"....
former MP and then Parliamentary sketch writer of
The TimesThe Times is a British daily national newspaper, first published in London in 1785 under the title The Daily Universal Register . The Times and its sister paper The Sunday Times are published by Times Newspapers Limited, a subsidiary since 1981 of News International...
) mentioned during a live interview on
NewsnightNewsnight is a BBC Television current affairs programme noted for its in-depth analysis and often robust cross-examination of senior politicians. Jeremy Paxman has been its main presenter for over two decades....
, in the wake of the resignation of Ron Davies, that "Peter Mandelson is certainly gay".
In 2000, Mandelson publicly recognised his relationship with long-time partner Reinaldo Avila da Silva by allowing photographs of them together. da Silva is Brazilian born but was naturalized as a British citizen around the end of August 2005.
Tam DalyellSir Thomas Dalyell Loch, 11th Baronet , known as Tam Dalyell, is a British Labour Party politician, who was a Member of Parliament in the House of Commons from 1962 to 2005, first for West Lothian and then for Linlithgow.-Early life:...
, while
Father of the HouseFather of the House is a term that has by tradition been unofficially bestowed on certain members of some national legislatures, most notably the House of Commons in the United Kingdom. In some legislatures the term refers to the oldest member, but in others it refers the longest-serving member.The...
of Commons, claimed Mandelson formed part of Blair's 'Jewish cabal' in May 2003. In response Mandelson said: "Apart from the fact that I am not actually Jewish, I wear my father's parentage with pride."
Mandelson was, until 8 October 2008, the president of
Central School of Speech and DramaThe Central School of Speech and Drama was founded in London in 1906 by Elsie Fogerty to offer a new form of training in speech and drama for young actors and other students...
. He was replaced in this unremunerated post by playwright
Harold PinterHarold Pinter, CH, CBE was a Nobel Prize–winning English playwright and screenwriter. One of the most influential modern British dramatists, his writing career spanned more than 50 years. His best-known plays include The Birthday Party , The Homecoming , and Betrayal , each of which he adapted to...
, who died some weeks later.
In 1999, 2009, 2011 Mandelson was an invited guest of the
Bilderberg GroupThe Bilderberg Group, Bilderberg conference, or Bilderberg Club is an annual, unofficial, invitation-only conference of approximately 120 to 140 guests from North America and Western Europe, most of whom are people of influence. About one-third are from government and politics, and two-thirds from...
and attended the annual conferences.
Further reading
- Jones, Nicholas (2000): Sultans of Spin: The Media and the New Labour Government Orion Books, ISBN 0-75282-769-3
- Macintyre, Donald
Donald Macintyre is a British journalist. He studied at Christ Church, Oxford, and obtained a post-graduate degree from the Cardiff School of Journalism....
(1999): Mandelson: The Biography Harper Collins, ISBN 0-00-255943-9
- Mandelson, Peter (2002): The Blair Revolution Revisited Politico's, ISBN 1-84275-039-9
- Rawnsley, Andrew
Andrew Nicholas James Rawnsley is a British political journalist, notably for The Observer, and broadcaster.-Early life:...
(2001): Servants of the People: The Inside Story of New Labour Penguin Books, ISBN 0-140-27850-8
- Routledge, Paul (1999): Mandy: The Unauthorised Biography of Peter Mandelson Simon & Schuster, ISBN 0-684-85175-X
- Seldon, Anthony
Dr. Anthony F. Seldon MA, PhD, FRSA, MBA, FRHistS is a political commentator best known as Tony Blair's biographer and the Master of Wellington College...
(2005): Blair The Free Press, ISBN 0-7432-3212-7
External links
- Profile: Peter Mandelson BBC News
BBC News is the department of the British Broadcasting Corporation responsible for the gathering and broadcasting of news and current affairs. The department is the world's largest broadcast news organisation and generates about 120 hours of radio and television output each day, as well as online...
, 3 October 2008, 13 August 2004
- Peter Mandelson: Interview in full, PublicAffairsAsia.com, 18 August 2008, on sovereign wealth funds
- Peter Mandelson: Interview on New Statesman
New Statesman is a British centre-left political and cultural magazine published weekly in London. Founded in 1913, and connected with leading members of the Fabian Society, the magazine reached a circulation peak in the late 1960s....
, 1 October 2008.
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