Peter Mandelson, the third man in the triumvirate that founded New Labour, today gave a penetrating and critical assessment of Gordon Brown's flaws, his strengths, and his chances of being the next Prime Minister:

On the succession

"The one thing that Tony Blair wants in the person to follow him, and he has always said this to me and others close to him, is he wants to be succeeded by somebody who is, if anything, stronger than him... more of a moderniser, more of a reformer than him.

"He doesn't want to be the great golden era New Labour figure, only to be succeeded by someone who will fail. The greatest legacy would be to see whoever is the next leader of the party leading us to a fourth term victory on a New Labour platform.

"He does see those qualities in Gordon Brown, there's no doubt about that. Should Gordon Brown be the one to succeed him, he will want him to succeed and he will work for that. There's no sense in Tony's mind that 'I was the golden years and now the fallow times must follow'. If he can do anything at all to make sure there's a stable and orderly transition, he will do what he can to achieve it."

On the years of acrimony

"It was necessary (to make a big effort this week to put things back together) because in the New Labour family there has been a fissure, almost from the word go. The reason is that Gordon thought that he could and should have been the leader, that he could have succeeded John Smith in 1994, and he has never fully reconciled himself to not doing so.

"I worked with him very closely up until 1994, when an invidious choice had to be made between the two of them, and a very deep breach opened up... which now can be closed, with the passage of time.

"I think within Gordon there is a recognition that, actually, Tony has done very well, that he has shown great vision and courage in very difficult circumstances and that he has been a great Labour Prime Minister.

"So for all his regrets that he hasn't been Prime Minister during this period, I think this has been recognised by Gordon."

On whether Gordon is fit to lead

"Listening to Gordon's speech yesterday, I thought you had three things. First, the demonstration that this really is a man with a mission, the man with a plan. I think that is what the party and the country want to see.

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