Mandelson: The reaction

Peter Mandelson resigned before in 1998

Prime Minister Tony Blair has paid tribute to Peter Mandelson in the wake of the Northern Ireland Secretary's resignation.

And he announced that the citizenship application by Indian billionaire Srichand Hinduja would be reviewed by former Treasury solicitor Sir Anthony Hammond.

Do you recognise that your career-long dependency on Mr Mandelson has been a monumental error of judgement?

William Hague

Mr Blair said of Mr Mandelson: "I would like to pay the warmest possible tribute to him for the tireless efforts he has made in securing peace in Northern Ireland and also for his personal courage and sense of duty in coming to the House this afternoon to answer questions on Northern Ireland before departing the government."

The prime minister faced an onslaught from Conservative leader William Hague who said that Mr Blair had made a "monumental error of judgement" in reappointing Mr Mandelson after his previous resignation.

But Mr Blair refused to engage with Mr Hague's remarks other than to say that Mr Mandelson was "a bigger man than many of his critics".

And he praised the former Northern Ireland secretary, who resigned earlier on Wednesday, for his "tireless efforts" in the province.

Dependency?

Mr Hague asked the prime minister: "Now you've notched up the historic achievement of being forced to sack the same minister for the same offence, twice in 25 months, do you recognise that your career-long dependency on Mr Mandelson has been a monumental error of judgement?"

To which Mr Blair said: "I don't suppose I ever expected you to behave graciously at all over his resignation."

It was inevitable that this would happen

Norman Baker MP

Education Secretary David Blunkett had warm words for Mr Mandelson.

He said: "I thought he was an excellent minister at the DTI and the Northern Ireland Office and I can only wish him well for the future."

And Foreign Secretary Robin Cook said the resignation was "a personal tragedy for Peter".

He also praised Mr Mandelson for his talent and hard work in the government.

But Liberal Democrat leader Charles Kennedy said: "Peter Mandelson has made the right decision to resign.

'Conservative sleaze'

"After 18 years of Conservative sleaze, the public needed the government to restore their faith in the political process - today's events have set that cause back."

He called for a "better" Ministerial Code of Conduct and "more transparent party funding and a lower cap on political funding".

Norman Baker, the Liberal Democrat MP who asked the original parliamentary question about Mr Mandelson's involvement in the passport saga, said the Northern Ireland secretary's resignation had been inevitable.

Inevitable

Mr Baker, MP for Lewes, said: "It was inevitable that this would happen when he had exposed the prime minister and his colleagues in a very unhelpful way."

Scottish National Party leader John Swinney said that Mr Mandelson personified New Labour's "untrustworthiness".

"This resignation places a huge question mark over Tony Blair's judgement.

"Peter Mandelson was a flawed minister who had to resign once, yet Tony Blair appointed him to one of the most sensitive jobs in UK politics after an indecently short period of time."

Mr Hinduja said his family was "sad" at Mr Mandelson's resignation.

He insisted there had never been any link between contributions to the Millennium Dome by his family and the request for information about his passport application.

"I wish to reiterate that I have never at any time linked our support for the Faith Zone of the Millennium Dome with our request to Mr Mandelson for information in 1998," Mr Hinduja said.