Mandelson defends memoirs, saying they will help Labour

Asked if he thought it was helpful to the party to publish his book now, Lord Mandelson insisted: “Yes, I do. I think you have to write these things when they are fresh in your mind and when they are relevant to a debate that’s taking place.”

With a leadership contest taking place, he said he had wanted to “give my views and analysis at a time when it is most relevant to the party”.

He dodged a question about whether he should donate the book’s profits to the Labour Party, saying he would continue to support the party financially and work for its success “until my dying day”.

Lord Mandelson resigned twice from the Labour government under Tony Blair but was brought back by Gordon Brown in 2008. He left frontline politics after Labour’s election defeat in May.

Other disclosures in the Times include claims that senior Labour figures were resigned to defeat under Gordon Brown and that Lib Dem leader Nick Clegg insisted on Mr Brown standing down as part of coalition talks after May’s inconclusive election result.

Some of the five Labour MPs battling it out for the party leadership have been critical of Lord Mandelson’s decision to publish his memoirs, arguing that the party needed to move on from the feuding of the Blair/Brown era.

Shadow health secretary Andy Burnham told BBC News: “This is what Labour’s got to leave behind, this indulgence. I don’t think it helps the party to rake over all these coals.”

Prime Minister David Cameron seized on the former business secretary’s account of the Blair and Brown years at prime minister’s questions on Wednesday to mock Labour for its “shambolic” time in government.