String of scandals A master of spin who has always flown close to the sun

Peter Mandelson once memorably said he was "intensely relaxed about people getting filthy rich". Indeed, over three decades at the top of British public life, he has shown a penchant for relaxing intensely in the yachts, homes and holiday pads of the super-wealthy.

- Heather Stewart

When the Labour peer was made ambassador to Donald Trump's White House, he promised to "stay below the radar" - but the merest glance at his past record showed that to be an unlikely prospect.

The original spin doctor, once dubbed the Prince of Darkness, Mandelson had always "flown close to the sun", as one former colleague put it - in particular, cultivating the company of the kind of wealthy power-brokers Theresa May called "citizens of nowhere".

He is fond of reminding journalists who reproduce the "intensely relaxed" remark that the full quote included the caveat "as long as they pay their taxes". But it is unclear whether he ever checked the fiscal contributions of his mega-rich friends - including "best pal" Jeffrey Epstein, with whom Mandelson is seen lounging in a white bathrobe in a photograph that emerged this week.

Money was ultimately at the heart of Mandelson's two resignations from Tony Blair's Labour government, in 1998 and again just three years later.

His first exit, from the role of trade and industry secretary, concerned an undeclared £373,000 loan he had taken from his wealthy colleague Geoffrey Robinson to buy a London house while the pair were in opposition.