The issue explained

Peter Mandelson and the Hindujas

Peter Mandelson, who resigned from the cabinet five weeks ago, has been cleared of wrongdoing in a report by Sir Anthony Hammond, published this morning. But questions still remain about the former Northern Ireland secretary's dealings with the wealthy Hinduja brothers, and Downing Street has made it clear that he will not return to government. Derek Brown and Julian Glover explain

Special report: Peter Mandelson

Derek Brown and Julian Glover
guardian.co.uk, Friday 9 March 2001 10.52 GMT

What does the Hammond report say?
The former treasury solicitor says he has no reason to doubt Mr Mandelson's honesty, and that he did not lie to Downing Street.

What was he supposed to have done?
While he was minister in charge of the Millennium Dome, Srichand Hinduja donated £1m to the so-called faith zone. Subsequently he applied for, and was granted with unusual speed, a British passport. So did his brother Gopichand. Mandelson was accused of lobbying the home office on behalf of the Hindujas, but insists he only made a telephone call to a junior minister to ask how the applications were proceeding.

Why did a simple phone call cause such a stink?
Because Mandelson did not clearly explain it, either to culture secretary Chris Smith (who had to answer a parliamentary question on the subject) or to the prime minister's office. The latter omission greatly irked Alistair Campbell, the Number Ten mouthpiece, who was obliged to make an embarrassing admission that he had wrongly briefed lobby correspondents.

Does the Hammond report mean that Mandelson will get a third go in the cabinet?
Absolutely not. 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 will be no third time lucky for Mandelson. He is cordially disliked by most of the parliamentary Labour party, and indeed by most of his former cabinet colleagues. Downing Street has made it clear that the prime minister, once regarded as Mandelson's best political pal, will not now touch him with a barge pole.

Did the Hinduja brothers do anything wrong?
Not a thing. They are embroiled in a long-running arms-dealing corruption scandal in their native India, but that's another matter entirely.

<The Hammond Inquiry: full text

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