HAD Peter Mandelson been forced out of a company, rather than a government, he would now have a strong case for constructive dismissal.

According to the Hammond Inquiry, the Hartlepool MP did nothing wrong, yet he is out of the Government and there appears to be no way back.

He has repeatedly stressed that he wants to concentrate on his constituency. However strong his anger and sense of injustice, the fact is that he has no choice - there is unease in Hartlepool about an MP who has been forced to resign as a minister twice, and there can be no complacency about regaining his seat.

Mr Mandelson may be officially "not guilty" but it is an episode which, nevertheless, has tarnished the Government's promised "whiter-than-white" image.

Mr Mandelson believes he was the victim of a kangaroo court: that Tony Blair and his advisors - with the tabloids ganging up - acted too hastily.

Would any minister other than Peter Mandelson have been forced to resign in such circumstances? The answer is almost certainly "no". They would have been afforded the same stay of execution as Keith Vaz - innocent until proven guilty.

But Mr Mandelson is different because his spin doctoring made him the tabloid's top target. He created too many enemies, both inside his own party and in the media, and the Prime Minister was rushed into a damage-limitation exercise.

The records will show that nothing untoward happened; that the Hinduja brothers obtained their passports fairly.

But ordinary people will question why it is that those with controversial backgrounds like the Hindujas can get so close to ministers just because they have large cheque-books.

This was a mess of the Government's own making. Perception is everything in politics - and alarm bells should have been heard a long way off.