Twice he has held ministerial office, and twice he has been forced to step down. But Peter Mandelson has been given another chance by Gordon Brown, despite their history of feuding.

Twelve points behind in polls, Labour MPs in revolt, The economy in meltdown - So Brown decides it's time for Mandelson

Peter Mandelson's return is going to start a frantic competition among investigative journalists to see who can break the story that will force him to resign from the Cabinet for the third time.

The return of Peter Mandelson to the Cabinet as head of the Business Department drew praise from industry leaders but astonishment from left-wingers and trade unionists today.

Peter Mandelson's shock return to the Cabinet was officially confirmed by Downing Street today, shortly after he described his latest comeback as "third time lucky".

Who would have thought it? Peter Mandelson is making a shock return to the Cabinet as Business Secretary in the reshuffle to be announced by Gordon Brown later today. It's a gamble by Brown to recall such a controversial figure.

In the modern European economy we trade in ideas. That is our USP. The European economy is still very good at making things – every bit as good as China, or anywhere else.

'The public view of Peter is a gross distortion of the private Peter I know'

Following David Miliband's call for change in the Labour Party, Peter Mandelson has joined the speculation over Gordon Brown's future.

The seven-year long Doha round of world-trade negotiations has been so peppered with "break or make" crises and "do-or-die" showdowns that the average consumer could be forgiven for wishing that they would just expire so that he or she might never again feel obligated to read about the latest spat between President Sarkozy and the EU trade commissioner Peter Mandelson or get to grips with the finer arguments over banana preferences.

A row between America and the European Union over import taxes on certain technology products spilled over into outright hostilities yesterday when the US government lodged a formal complaint with the World Trade Organisation.

Gordon Brown once claimed £15 for light bulbs, Peter Mandelson spent nearly £3,000 on a shower and Tony Blair lavished nearly £11,000 of taxpayers' money on a new kitchen, according to the most detailed account of MPs' expenditure ever published.

Will Alistair Darling, the Chancellor, survive the expected ministerial reshuffle the other side of the Crewe by-election? Gordon Brown has to do something to reinvigorate his top team after his disastrous showing in the polls, even if it will look to some like no more than rearranging deck chairs.

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