Mandelson “officially rules out” the leadership “for life”

By Alex Smith / @alexsmith1982

Peter Mandelson has told Sky News this afternoon that he isÃ’Â “officially ruling out” ever becoming Prime Minister or leader of the Labour party.

In the video below, he says:

“I have no prospect and no plans of standing as leader of the Labour party…I am a member of the House of Lords. There is no opportunity for me to divest myself with my life peerage…A peerage is for life. A life peerage. It is me officially ruling it out.”

Whether this will quell the leadership speculation entirely, I’m unsure. A peerage is for life. At the moment. But proposals are being pushed through Parliament that could change that, and Peter Mandelson is wily enough and clever enough with language to change his mind and his position should the opportunity arise in the future, or should his party require it. After all, we know that the New Labour project has always come first for Mandelson; would a threat to that project bring about a change of heart?