PETER Mandelson was last night under mounting pressure to follow his departure from the Government by quitting his North-East constituency.

The Hartlepool MP is facing a growing tide of local opinion to stand down at the impending General Election from the seat he has represented since 1992.

But The Northern Echo understands that Mr Mandelson was last night still minded to stand for re-election in Hartlepool, even though his ministerial career is in ruins.

For the second time in just over two years, Mr Mandelson - a chief architect of New Labour and one of Tony Blair's closest confidants - was forced to resign from the Cabinet.

He was controversially brought back into the Government only months after quitting as Trade and Industry Secretary following his £373,000 home loan from government colleague Geoffrey Robinson.

On a day of drama at Westminster yesterday, he emerged from a lengthy meeting with Mr Blair to announce he was resigning as Northern Ireland Secretary and was last night replaced by Scottish Secretary John Reid.

Energy Minister Helen Liddell leaves the Department of Trade and Industry to take over in Scotland and will herself be replaced by Foreign Office Minister Peter Hain.

Mr Mandelson admitted he had failed to tell the whole truth about his intervention in the application for British citizenship in 1998 of wealthy Indian businessman Srichand Hinduja who helped bankroll the Millennium Dome.

Mr Mandelson confessed he should have been "clear" that he personally, not his officials, had telephoned Home Office Minister Mike O'Brien over the application.

But he defiantly insisted he had not acted improperly "in any way" - a claim backed by Mr Blair even though Number 10 has now ordered an inquiry into the granting of the passport application.

Mr Mandelson, 47, said yesterday there "must be more to politics than the constant media pressure and exposure" that had dogged him for the last five years.

"I want to remove myself from the countless stories of controversy, feuds and division and all the rest," said Mr Mandelson.

He is now expected to give up what would have been a leading role in the campaign team to win Labour a second term.

And several Labour North-East Labour MPs also privately forecast that Mr Mandelson would eventually resign his Commons seat now that he was unlikely to achieve high office ever again.

In the Commons, Mr Blair paid a glowing tribute to Mr Mandelson.

With his friend by his side on the Government front bench for almost certainly the last time, the Prime Minister hailed his work in Northern Ireland and said he was a "bigger man" than many of his critics.

But Tory leader William Hague aimed to discredit the entire New Labour project by furiously condemning Mr Blair's "career-long dependency" on Mr Mandelson as a "monumental error of judgement".

The Tory leader ridiculed Mr Blair for his "historic achievement of being forced to sack the same minister for the same offence twice in 25 months".

The resignation received mixed reactions in Mr Mandelson's home constituency yesterday.

The Labour Group in Hartlepool continued to support Mr Mandelson.

Group leader Russell Hart said: "Peter Mandelson remains our candidate and continues to have the confidence of the Labour Party and continues to have my confidence as the leader of the Labour Group on Hartlepool Council."

But opposition parties, and many of the voters who loyally backed Mr Mandelson during the home loan scandal, called for Mr Mandelson to quit Hartlepool for good.

Tory prospective candidate for the constituency Gus Robinson said: "Ordinary people using ordinary common sense know what is right and what is wrong. I don't think you can fool the public.

"I can't think of one project that Mr Mandelson has been involved in that has benefited the people of Hartlepool."

Mayor of Hartlepool Frank Rogers criticised Mr Mandelson's judgement."He has emphasised the image of Hartlepool as a music hall joke which it has tried to get away from," he said.

"A lot of people in the town will be disappointed that someone who has clout in Parliament has let them down so badly."