Lord Peter Mandelson's Biography

Peter Benjamin Mandelson was born on 21 October 1953 in Hampstead Garden Suburb in North West London.

His father was advertising director of the Jewish Chronicle. Peter Mandelson's mother's father was Herbert Morrison, the deputy prime minister in Clement Attlee's government.

Peter Mandelson was educated at Hendon County Grammar School and St Catherine's College, Oxford, where he studied PPE (Politics, Philosophy and Economics).

In 1979 he was elected to be a councillor for Stockwell on Lambeth Council.

However, in 1982, Mandelson resigned and left politics, becoming a producer on the LWT current affairs strand Weekend World.

In 1985 he left his TV career to become the Labour Party's director of communications under its reforming leader Neil Kinnock.

In 1989, he was elected MP for Hartlepool. Temporarily, Mandelson was out of favour in the Labour Party when it was led by John Smith.

However, when Smith died in 12 May 1994, Peter Mandelson played a pivotal role in the ensuing battle for leadership of the Labour Party.

Initially it was thought that Mandelson was closer to Gordon Brown, but in the end he proved to be a crucial ally to Tony Blair in his successful bid to become the Labour leader.

Mandelson orchestrated Labour's successful election campaign in May 1997 when they finally rose to power from the political wilderness.

Initially, Peter Mandelson was minister without portfolio, but in July 1998 he became secretary of state for trade and industry.

However, a few months later in December 1998, Mandelson made what was to be his first resignation from the Cabinet after he had not declared a substantial loan from Geoffrey Robinson MP.

A year later, Mandelson was back in the Cabinet when he was appointed secretary of state for Northern Ireland, however in January 2001 he resigned from the Cabinet once more after what became known as the Hinduja affair.

From 2004 to 2008, Peter Mandelson was a EU Trade Commissioner.

In October 2008, Gordon Brown surprised many by bringing Peter Mandelson back into the government in the cabinet post of business secretary. He was made a life peer.

In June 2009, Peter Mandelson was promoted and gained one of the longest titles in political history, Baron Mandelson of Foy in the County of Herefordshire and Hartlepool in the County of Durham, First Secretary of State, Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, Lord President of the Council.

In 2010 Peter Mandelson published his memoirs, The Third Man: Life at the Heart of New Labour.