PETER Mandelson has bought a £850,000 penthouse apartment less than half a mile from Downing Street.

The Hartlepool MP and former cabinet minister's sixth-floor flat overlooks Trafalgar Square.

He has sold his former West London home for £600,000 and a national newspaper yesterday said he was living with his companion Reinaldo da Silva.

Mr Mandelson was forced to resign as trade secretary after it was alleged he bought a property with the help of a £373,000 loan from former paymaster general Geoffrey Robinson.

Mr Mandelson's new neighbours include inventor Sir Clive Sinclair and the Indian tycoon Srichand Hinduja who, it was alleged, Mr Mandelson helped gain British citizenship.

A spokesman for Mr Mandelson said he had moved his London address last autumn.