Blair Returns Friend to Political Fold

Prime Minister Tony Blair named Peter Mandelson as Northern Ireland secretary Monday, less than a year after his old friend and confidant was forced to resign from the Cabinet over a home loan scandal.

Mandelson, 45, replaced Marjorie “Mo” Mowlam, a bold and folksy politician who had held the job since the Labor Party’s landslide victory in 1997. Mowlam helped usher in the 1998 Good Friday peace agreement to end 30 years of sectarian warfare and fought tooth and nail to keep it alive. But recently, the Northern Ireland secretary had fallen out with Protestant unionists who felt she was too sympathetic to Catholic nationalists.

The peace process has been stalled for months over the unionists’ refusal to sit in government with Sinn Fein, the political arm of the Irish Republican Army, until the IRA begins to disarm.

Mowlam resisted unionist pressure for her resignation last summer, saying she wanted to see the agreement through to its conclusion. But in a Cabinet reshuffle, Blair moved Mowlam to the trouble-shooting post of Cabinet Office minister, coordinating government policy.

The shake-up was triggered by the departure of Defense Secretary George Robertson to become secretary-general of NATO, and by the resignation of Health Secretary Frank Dobson to run as the Labor Party candidate to become London’s first popularly elected mayor next year.

Robertson was replaced by Geoff Hoon, a deputy Foreign Office minister and relatively unknown lawyer.

Mandelson’s appointment marks his swift return from political exile. He resigned as secretary of trade and industry last Christmas after it was revealed that he had received a loan of more than $600,000 from another government official whose business affairs Mandelson’s department was investigating.

The loan was for the purchase of a fashionable Notting Hill home, which Mandelson has since sold.

Mandelson beamed as he left the prime minister’s office at 10 Downing St. after his appointment was made official.

“This is a tremendous opportunity and challenge for me. It is a job I am absolutely delighted to have. I have no doubt it is going to be very hard,” Mandelson said shortly afterward.

Northern Ireland’s Protestant majority also welcomed his appointment.

“There will be huge relief, particularly among unionists, that there is a change in secretary of state at this stage,” said Ken Maginnis, a spokesman for the Ulster Unionist Party.

Party chief David Trimble added that Mandelson was “one of the chief architects of new Labor and a very substantial figure in that sense.”

Catholics leaders said they were saddened by the departure of Mowlam, whom they regarded as a fair and energetic Northern Ireland secretary.

“She was a breath of fresh air here,” said Seamus Mallon, a leader of the Social Democratic and Labor Party. “She brought initiative, imagination and courage. She played a key role during her time here.”

Some Catholic leaders said the appointment of one of Blair’s trusted allies also sends a signal that the prime minister continues to give priority to the peace process. But Sinn Fein leader Gerry Adams reacted cautiously, saying he would seek a meeting with Mandelson soon.

“While personalities impact on any situation, what is critical is the politics, and in particular in this instance the policy of the British government,” Adams said.

“It is crucial that her [Mowlam’s] successor implements the British government’s policy--which is the Good Friday agreement,” Adams said.

Certainly there will be a change in style in the British Northern Ireland Office.

Mowlam is a down-to-earth woman admired for her personal strength in overcoming a brain tumor shortly before the 1997 elections. During negotiations leading to the Good Friday accord, she was overheard telling Adams to “bloody well get on and do it, otherwise I’ll head-butt you.”

She also made an unprecedented visit for a British Cabinet secretary to the notorious Maze prison in Belfast, the Northern Ireland capital, to meet with Protestant paramilitary forces and secure their support for the peace process.

Mandelson, on the other hand, is known for his love of nice suits and the good life. He made his reputation as the Blair administration’s chief spin doctor, although he also is known as one of the more astute politicians in Blair’s inner circle and a tough negotiator.