Gordon Brown’s decision to bring Peter Mandelson back into the British cabinet seven years after he resigned a second time has stunned Westminster.

No one expected Mandelson to return to the front line of British politics, especially under Gordon Brown, a man widely regarded as despising the former Northern Ireland and trade secretary. But these are desperate times for Brown, despite a sense that the prime minister has staged a mild recovery since the credit crunch became a crisis for western capitalism with the collapse of Lehman Brothers.

Mandelson is a divisive figure, so it’s unsurprising that his comeback has split opinion. His ministerial career was seen as a success, despite his two resignations. He was well regarded by senior civil servants as a decisive minister. He will strengthen the government in a managerial sense. (Unless his recklessness forces him out a third time.) But his confidence comes at a price: a strong veneer of arrogance, which makes him an unlikely ambassador for a government desperate to win friends to counter the resurgence of David Cameron’s Conservatives. He is also all too closely associated with the early days of the New Labour in power, when the party became synonymous with spin. The public and the Labour party never warmed to Mandelson; it will be fascinating to see if he enjoys greater popularity in what could be the party’s last two years in power.

Looking back, I can’t help comparing Mandelson’s return with two ‘big beasts’ of the Thatcher era. Cecil Parkinson was, like Mandelson, forced to resign as trade and industry secretary, in his case after his mistress became pregnant. (Tory resignations are usually jucier!) A few years later, he returned to government, but without the lustre of earlier years. And Michael Heseltine became deputy prime minister in the dying years of the Major government, after whispers that Hezza might replace the hapless Major. Heseltine was as irrepressive as ever, declaring on the eve of the 1997 election that the Conservatives would win a handsome majority of 50 or more. Despite his exuberance, Labour won its greatest ever landslide. Big beasts don’t always rule the political jungle…