N Ireland secretary Peter Mandelson, gave his resignation, on Wednesday, after facing fresh embarrassment when it was revealed that one of his closest associates had personally intervened after a request by a controversial Indian businessman to obtain a British passport. Blair`s official spokesman said Northern Ireland Minister Peter Mandelson had telephoned a fellow minister to ask whether Srichand Hinduja stood a chance of getting a passport after an earlier request by the businessman for the document was rejected. Wednesday`s statement contradicted the official line a day earlier, when the spokesman said that Mandelson had been asked to intercede in favour of Hinduja but refused, getting a civil servant to make the call on his behalf instead.
Mandelson has been accused of helping Hinduja get a passport in exchange for the businessman`s generous sponsorship of the millennium dome, a pet project of the ruling Labour Party. The British minister dismissed the allegations as innuendo in a statement released on Wednesday.
Bureau Report