Mandelson rounds on Blair over peace concessions

Former Northern Secretary Peter Mandelson accused Tony Blair today of making “irresponsible” concessions to keep the peace process going.

The European commissioner and staunch Blairite told The Guardian he had different views to the British prime minister and at one point refused to write a secret letter to Sinn Féin.

Mr Mandelson was Northern Secretary between 1999 and 2001, when he was forced to resign amid the Hinduja passport application affair.

He said: “In order to keep the process in motion (Mr Blair) would be sort of dangling carrots and possibilities in front of the republicans, which I thought could never be delivered, that it was unreasonable and irresponsible to intimate that you could when you knew that you couldn’t.”

Former cabinet secretary Lord Butler of Brockwell also acknowledged the difficulty facing Mr Blair in balancing the need to bring the republicans on board without alienating unionists.

He said: “There was a lot to be said for paying a price to keep the bicycle moving. The issue is whether Tony Blair paid too big a price.”