Former Northern Ireland secretary, Peter Mandelson has held his Hartlepool seat and declared himself to be "back on the political map".

"I am grateful for the people of Hartlepool for putting me back on the political map. Before the campaign they said that I was facing political oblivion, that my career was in tatters, apparently not to be part of the political living again. They underestimated Hartlepool. And underestimated me because I am a fighter not a quitter," he said.

Taking a triumphalist stand Mandelson rounded on his detractors. "My political opponents can have their pound of flesh, and they do, but they can never eat in to the core of my beliefs. That is the inner steel in me," he said.

The result was a disappointment for Mandelson's challengers. Arthur Scargill, leader of the Socialist Labour party, captured only 912 votes and the independent candidate John Booth - the former Labour press officer sacked by Mandelson in 1986 - polled just 424 votes.