Peter Mandelson resigns from board of lobbying firm weeks before Labour set to enter No 10

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Louise Thomas

Editor

Peter Mandelson has resigned from the board of his lobbying firm weeks before Labour is set to enter No 10.

Keir Starmer is now widely predicted to win by a landslide on July 4, returning his party to government for the first time since 2010.

And there are predictions the overwhelming scale of the victory could guarantee he stays in Downing Street for a decade.

Now it has emerged that Lord Mandelson has resigned as a director of Global Counsel.

The move by the former business secretary has prompted speculation he would be free for a possible government role.

But it is thought nothing has changed since he ruled out a return to frontline politics earlier this year.

That was after the reported part-sale of his advisory firm to Barack Obama’s former polling guru, Jim Messina.

At the time Lord Mandelson, once dubbed the “Dark Lord” for his role as a New Labour spin doctor, told the Telegraph: “I will continue to always be a cheerleader and champion of a Labour government but I do not intend to be a member of it.”

In March he raised eyebrows when he told Sir Keir he could stand to “shed a few pounds, and that would be an improvement.”

The move appeared to be a bid at even-handedness after he hit out at the prime minister’s notorious slim-fit suits and skinny ties, saying they “diminish him rather than expand him” on his podcast.

At the weekend he accused Rishi Sunak of being afraid to take on Nigel Farage and said the Reform UK leader was "terrorising" the Conservative Party.

He warned that trying to outflank Mr Farage would only embolden the former Ukip boss and make him stronger, in an interview with Sky News.

On Mr Farage, he said: "I think he terrifies the Conservative Party. I mean, he terrified David Cameron into conceding a referendum on our membership of the European Union, and now he’s doing the same, to Sunak. He terrorises them.

"Now you, you’ve got to stand up to terrorists you know, in this world and including in, in British domestic politics."

Companies House records show he resigned as a director at the start of May.

A Savanta and Electoral Calculus polling analysis on Thursday had Labour on track to take 516 seats, with an estimated majority of 382 – twice the size of Tony Blair’s 1997 landslide – suggesting that recent Tory warnings of a huge Labour “supermajority” are correct.