.Peter Benjamin Mandelson (born 21 October 1953), Baron Mandelson (of Foy in the County of Herefordshire and of Hartlepool in the County of Durham) PC: Known as The Prince of Darkness, The Dark Lord, The Dark Prince, Darth Mandelson … and Mandy. Whatever you think of him, you cannot deny he's done a lot in the politics of the United Kingdom.
While working hidden behind the scenes, he was largely responsible for his (previously losing) party's landslide victory in 1997, updating its image to appeal to the electorate, and covertly running the campaign from a "tiny office with a three-legged chair, propped up by books". He actually began his involvement at the top level of Labour politics in 1985, during the leadership of Neil Kinnock, but today everyone tends to think about him for what he did during the New Labour era, and always either for better or for worse. He left his position as a party official in 1990 after he got selected as the prospective parliamentary candidate for the Hartlepool constituency at the 1992 election. He went on to serve as its Member of Parliament until he resigned to serve on the European Commission with responsibility for trade in 2004, when both of the UK's commissioners, Kinnock and Chris Patten, were due to step aside. (Until 2004, the UK was one of five large then members, alongside France, Germany, Italy and Spain, that got two commissioners. The first Commission led by José Barroso reduced each of them to one commissioner.)
During New Labour's time in power under Tony Blair and more briefly Gordon Brown, he always manoeuvred himself into positions of massive influence, simply by not wanting to have the top job. He was forced to resign twice for scandals that he was embroiled in (at least one of Mandelson's colleagues has said "Peter goes gaga in the presence of rich men"), but he was such a useful figure that he ended up coming back.
The second time he resigned, he became among the most powerful men in the EU Commission. When his tenure came to an end, the Brown government brought him back to Britain yet again, and he ran the country behind the scenes, collecting titles and government departments to add to his power. His position meant nobody could question his political actions unless he allowed them.
He took a seat in the House of Lords basically because everyone in his party realised that they could not rely upon even Labour's safest constituencies to elect him.
His last title while in government was The Right Honourable the Baron Mandelson of Foy in the County of Herefordshire and of Hartlepool in the County of Durham, First Secretary of State, Lord President of the Privy Council and Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills. This led to Frankie Boyle's memorable, stunned remark: "Who made him a Lord, the Sith?!"
Even after his party's eventual third-term defeat in 2010, people kept whispering rumours of his comeback; such is the power of the myth behind the man. Indeed, it was reported in 2021 that he had been appointed to advise Keir Starmer and the Shadow Cabinet on how to win the support of Big Business, in effect re-creating the New Labour coalition. This was achieved thanks to Morgan McSweeney, Starmer’s campaign manager who claimed Mandelson as a mentor and followed his advice to undermine Jeremy Corbyn’s leadership of the Labour Party to swing it way to the right. As Starmer won a majority government of comparable size to Blair's first two in 2024, it seems his skills worked at least once more, and he was made Ambassador to the United States — drawing further parallels to Henry Kissinger — on McSweeney’s recommendation, over the objection of many other advisors to the PM.note Many commentators greeted this news dubiously, thinking sure that while Mandelson was actually technically very well qualified, he wouldn't go down well in Washington and that Donald Trump would hate him. However, Mandelson's apparently unparalleled ability to ingratiate himself with the rich and powerful and skill at backroom dealing did apparently bear fruit — at least until September 2025.
He got embroiled in the biggest and perhaps final scandal of his career due to new revelations about his links to the infamous deceased paedophile Jeffrey Epstein. Mandelson had earlier affirmed that he had known and interacted with Epstein socially as did many other figures in global politics, finance, entertainment, and academia, but claimed ignorance of anything more. Newly revealed emails, however, confirmed that Mandelson had considered Epstein a close friend, urged him to fight allegations into child sex trafficking, and maintained contact even after his first conviction in 2010. Privately, The Times noted on September 14, 2025, that Mandelson even claimed behind closed doors that he thought Epstein was innocent and the victims were liars, despite professing previously to respect their voices. This revelation made Mandelson entirely radioactive and led to Keir Starmer sacking him immediately, after initially staving away questions about his posting. The incident and fallout quickly became the biggest scandal of Starmer’s already embattled ministry. The UK press were quick to write Mandelson’s epitaph, with many noting that his legacy has entirely come undone during his comeback in a way it would not have had he remained entirely out of politics.
Along with the more overtly belligerent Alastair Campbell (who joined the team later), he's one of New Labour's most prominent spin doctors. Like Boris Johnson, whom he otherwise does not much resemble, he is a prime example of Reality Is Unrealistic. Interestingly, Mandelson is also the grandson of Herbert Morrison, a prominent Labour politician who served in Ramsay MacDonald's National Government in the early 1930s, Winston Churchill's War Government of the early 1940s, and Clement Attlee's Post-War Government of the late 1940s.
Examples of Peter Mandelson in fiction:
- Arguably, his memoir The Third Man in which he manages to write nearly 800 pages about the Blair years without once using the phrase "in the national interest".
- Paul Rhys plays Mandelson in The Deal (2003), a dramatisation of the deal between Blair and Brown that unofficially gave birth to New Labour.
- Steven Mackintosh plays Mandelson in Mo, the Mo Mowlam biopic starring Julie Walters in the title role; notably, she calls him a "complete shit" to his face.
- He's played by Nigel Planer in "The Hunt for Tony Blair", a spoof film from The Comic Strip Presents which frames the major controversies of the Blair government as a 1950s Ealing Studios-style Film Noir.
- The Channel 4 drama Coalition (broadcast 28 March 2015) features Mark Gatiss as Mandelson. His first scene has him appearing through a cloud of dry ice.
None is entirely flattering — as pointed out at some length in this review of Mo, which suggests he tends to come out badly by comparison with Judas Iscariot.
Elements of his character appear in not one, not two, but three different characters on The Thick of It: Malcolm Tucker combines him and Alastair Campbell, while Julius Nicholson and Steve Fleming blend Mandelson, Andrew Adonis, and John Birt. Malcolm even at one point references the real Mandelson's sexual orientation. "The 'tache is a bit of a giveaway."
Examples of tropes applied to Peter Mandelson in media:
- Adam Westing: The TV ads for his memoirs, if not his entire media persona since his latest return to UK politics.
- Straight Gay
- Vetinari Job Security
See also portrayals on:
- Have I Got News for You.
- Mock the Week, especially this bit.
- Dead Ringers.
- According to Word of God, the Pet Shop Boys' "I Get Along" is Blair/Mandelson Real-Person Fic.
- David Walliams has said that Sebastian Love of Little Britain is a No Celebrities Were Harmed version of Mandelson.
