Peter Mandelson says he owes his political downfall to the battles with the left in the mid-80s.

In an interview with the Guardian on Thursday, the New Labour guru said he regretted making so many enemies when he worked as Labour's director of communications.

The Hartlepool MP was twice forced to resign from the Cabinet - first from his post as trade and industry secretary over the home loan scandal, and then as Northern Ireland secretary over the Hinduja passports scandal.

"I didn't think ahead. I didn't think that one day I would be a politician standing in my own right needing support, needing the political base that any politician requires," he said. "In pure political terms that was a failing."

Reflecting on his ministerial career, Mandelson said his close relationship with Tony Blair had put pressure on him to "doubly justify, doubly perform" in office.

He added that he was not looking for a return to government, and said that as a backbencher he was "happy, but not fulfilled". "I enjoy my life but I am understretched," he said.