Peter Mandelson’s back in town

Peter Mandelson is coming back to London. The flamboyant architect of New Labour was readmitted to the government by Gordon Brown in today’s reshuffle and is to be given a peerage to allow him to be a Cabinet minister, having resigned as an MP four years ago. Known as either “the best political strategist of his generation” (according to Tom Sawyer the Labour Party’s former general secretary) or "the Prince of Darkness" (according to his many detractors), Mandelson’s colourful personal life has always interested the media as much as his erratic political career.

Gossip-mongers are waiting to see if Mandelson’s return to the UK will see him reunited with his on-off Brazilian-born partner Reinaldo Avila da Silva, who began a relationship with the politician at the time of Labour’s general election victory in 1997. Eyebrows were raised when Mandelson was appointed EU Trade Commissioner in 2004 and Silva chose not to follow him to live in the fashionable downtown Brussels neighbourhood of Sablon.

Previously da Silva had stayed with Mandelson throughout his professional ups and downs. When Mandelson was reintroduced to the Cabinet in 2001 as Secretary of State for Northern Ireland, they lived together in Belfast’s Hillsborough Castle, holding regular dinner parties that became a fixture of the Irish political scene. No official break-up was ever announced but in 2007 it was reported that da Silva had become close to Lord Browne, the former chairman of BP.

The Notting Hill house that caused Mandelson so much heartache – he lost his Cabinet job in 2001 after failing to disclose an interest-free loan from fellow MP Geoffrey Robinson in order to buy the property – is history now. Two years ago Mandelson purchased a £2.4m mansion in Regent’s Park and is expected to make that his home.

It remains to be seen whether Mandelson will be able to avoid antagonising too many of his Labour colleagues this time round. French President Nicolas Sarkozy even blamed the hapless Mandelson for Ireland’s "No" vote against the Lisbon Treaty in June. Listing the factors which contributed to Ireland’s rejection of the treaty, Sarkozy reeled off abortion rights, euthanasia and trade disagreements before simply adding"Mandelson" to the list.