Leading Article: Hard lessons to be learned from a very public downfall

THE SWIFT offer, and prompt acceptance, of Peter Mandelson's resignation at least shows that New Labour can act decisively. That will probably seem little comfort to ministers. This is the greatest blow that the Government has suffered since it came to power. Losing the very architect of New Labour over such a stupid and sloppy mistake, the destruction of one of the Prime Minister's closest allies is nothing short of a disaster for Mr Blair's "project".

This highlights the Prime Minister's failure to act decisively earlier in the year, and sack the Paymaster General, Geoffrey Robinson. Perhaps if he had done, Mr Mandelson would have realised the implications of his embarrassing "loan" earlier, with less pain all round.

We must hope that the Prime Minister has learnt his lesson: he must act quickly whenever a colleague is left twisting in the wind, crippled by allegation after allegation. John Major paid a high price for failing to do so, and Mr Blair must avoid the same fate.

As for Mr Mandelson, at least the speed of his departure does him some credit. He knows how important it is that the public have confidence in their elected representatives. They must be "whiter than white", in the Prime Minister's own words, to ensure that politics and politicians do not fall even further in public esteem.

In the absence of further allegations, it seems that Mr Mandelson's offence was relatively benign: not to register the money he received from Mr Robinson, and not to tell his Permanent Secretary that the debt prevented him from overseeing investigations into his benefactor. The former Trade Secretary made a frank confession of those mistakes in his resignation letter yesterday.

There is as yet no question that any influence was in fact bought, or any specific decision perverted, by the relationship. All the same, it was unhealthy and improper for a prospective minister to allow himself to become indebted to a colleague, and a rich and powerful businessman. The public, tired of "sleaze", demand nothing less than the highest standards. Politicians must be open, whether or not they think they have done anything technically wrong. The transparency rules that Tory scandals prompted are beginning to enforce this, and are having the desired effect of forcing more disclosure. The days when politicians could disregard public opinion, or rely on journalists to cover up for them, are long gone.

Mr Blair must now hope that the Christmas holidays will act as a fire- break against this scandal. Perhaps the holiday spirit will calm feelings and encourage forgiveness. But this would be a pity if it were to weaken the impact of the last lesson that New Labour must learn: that cosying up to the rich and powerful has its dangers, as well as its opportunities.