Mandelson did not mislead Parliament. His mistake was not telling culture secretary Chris Smith (who had to answer a parliamentary question on the subject) or Tony Blair's office, that he had made a telephone call to a junior minister to ask how the Hinduja Brothers' passport applications were proceeding. This was said to have particularly irked Alistair Campbell, "the Number Ten mouthpiece", who was obliged to make an embarrassing admission that he had wrongly briefed lobby correspondents. Note that this means journalists, not Parliament.
Mandelson was in any case exonerated by an independent inquiry, led by Sir Anthony Hammond, which concluded that neither he nor anyone else had acted improperly.
The Grauniad pointed out however that "After being forced to resign twice – the first time after the revelation that he had taken an undeclared £374,000 home loan from a cabinet colleague – there [would] be no third time lucky for Mandelson. He [was] cordially disliked by most of the parliamentary Labour party, and indeed by most of his former cabinet colleagues. Downing Street [had] made it clear that the prime minister, once regarded as Mandelson's best political pal, [would] not now touch him with a barge pole."
In 2004, Mandelson indicated his interest in becoming the United Kingdom's European Commissioner, with both Neil Kinnock and Chris Patten due to stand down. He was duly appointed, and this necessitated his resigning his seat by applying for the Stewardship of the Manor of Northstead.
At the end of his term, Mandelson was elevated to the peerage and returned to government (under Gordon Brown) as Business Secretary. Seven months later – in June 2009 – he was additionally made Lord President of the Council and First Secretary of State.
Labour's defeat in the 2010 general election marked the end of Mandelson's time in government. He published his memoirs, and settled down to a life of (no doubt lucrative) consultancy.
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