Peter Mandelson, the EU trade commissioner, has made a surprise return to the British government.
Mandelson's appointment to the post of business minister was the biggest surprise in Prime Minister Gordon Brown's cabinet reshuffle. Mandelson, who has twice been forced to resign from ministerial posts in the past, acknowledged that his new post was unexpected, but said he was proud to be a minister for the third time. Brown and Mandelson fell out in 1994 when the latter backed Tony Blair for the post of Labour leader, creating divisions within the centre-left party that remain to this day. His role in holding behind-the-scenes briefings against Blair's opponents earned him the unflattering nickname "Prince of Darkness".
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