Gerri Peev: From Prince of Darkness to Prince Charming with one vital text message

Published on Sunday 7 June 2009 22:07

PETER Mandelson, once known as the Prince of Darkness, is now the Prime Minister's own Prince Charming after he saved Gordon Brown's political skin. When the news came in that James Purnell was resigning on Thursday night, Lord Mandelson urgently texted the PM's main challengers, David Miliband and Alan Johnson.

The underlying message was: not yet. Mr Mandelson was the cheerleader who rallied the other ministers to Mr Brown's rescue that night, as a string of Cabinet heavyweights took to the airwaves to pledge loyalty.

There is an irony that the man who is now, in effect, propping up Mr Brown dealt a knock-out punch to his ambitions of replacing the late John Smith as Labour leader. He sent a fax to Mr Brown telling him that his vote was going to Tony Blair. A furious Mr Brown felt he had been betrayed, and a long-simmering feud spanned most of the following decade.

The men only attempted to patch things up in the run-up to the 1997 election campaign, which produced the landslide for Labour. Mr Brown pursued the travelling Mr Mandelson across the Atlantic on a mobile phone. The conversation descended into a flaming row, with Mr Mandelson reminding the future PM of his ability in the dark arts: "I love you, but I can destroy you."

Their relationship deteriorated further when Mr Mandelson refused to connive with Mr Brown to present a string of domestic policies as a fait accompli to Tony Blair.

Michael Wills, Brown's adviser at the time, even described the men as like "scorpions in a bottle: only one will get out alive".

The decision by Mr Brown to bring Mandelson back from Europe, offering him a peerage and the Cabinet post of Business Secretary, was a show-stealing moment. Since coming back, he has fought, lost and won battles with other ministers behind the scenes.

And Mr Brown knows, like no other minister or back-bench plotter, Lord Mandelson can switch off his life support.