'Final nail in the coffin' for former minister with gift to communicate

Peter Mandelson's latest outburst may have shattered any final hopes he held of returning to government.

Yesterday, both friends and adversaries of the former Northern Ireland secretary were seething at his ill-timed remarks about the euro which succeeded in fracturing the uneasy truce between the Blair and Brown camps.

One former Cabinet minister said: "He completely lacks any self-discipline. This is deeply counterproductive."

His comments were compared by some at Westminster to the action of a suicide bomber who in his eagerness to damage his old rival Gordon Brown managed to incinerate his own career prospects.

"He's done it again. He just can't help himself," said one MP, who confessed to being a Mandelson fan, last night.

Mr Mandelson's manoeuvrings have won him a reputation at Westminster as a Machiavellian character and the tag "Prince of Darkness". But few dispute that he was an able minister, is a skilled communicator and charming operator - when he wants to be.

Yet even his close friends say that he cannot resist an opportunity to snipe at colleagues, undermine people or pick up the phone to the media to stir up trouble.

Journalists on Fleet Street are familiar with Mr Mandelson's bullying tactics. On Tuesday night, he personally rang up the journalist who was forced by her boss to report his off-the-record comments about Mr Brown. He said that if she revealed his name "it would be the final nail in the coffin".

Joe Haines, the former Daily Mirror political editor and spin doctor to Harold Wilson, recounts in his biography how Mr Mandelson tried to seriously undermine him by writing a letter to his boss - while congratulating him to his face on his work.

Luckily the letter, which looked like an attempt to get him sacked, was intercepted before any damage was caused.

Mr Mandelson's fall from power has been largely of his own making. Yet many feel his hubristic tendencies have deprived British politics of one of its greatest figures.

As the architect of New Labour and Tony Blair's most brilliant strategist he possesses a rare talent to spot trends before they have happened and plan for the political future.

The MP for Hartlepool has been the architect of his own downfall twice before. He was forced to resign as Trade and Industry Secretary after it emerged that he had taken a £373,000 loan to buy a house from Geoffrey Robinson the former paymaster general.

Then, after returning to the Cabinet as Northern Ireland Secretary, he was sacked over a scandal involving an alleged phone call that he made about a passport for one of the Hinduja brothers.

He was cleared by an official inquiry of wrongdoing and many felt that Mr Mandelson was unfairly treated by the Prime Minister when he was sacked.

Only last week, friends of the Hartlepool MP were convinced that he might yet return to the Government in the summer reshuffle. But the frostiness of No 10's response to his outburst suggests that the flawed genius may have to remain on the back benches.

As one of Mr Mandelson's closest friends remarked: "Peter doesn't pick up the phone to Tony. Tony calls him."