The British Prime Minister, Mr Blair, last night moved quickly to fill the politically-dangerous vacuum left by the shock resignation of the Northern Secretary, Mr Peter Mandelson, by announcing a successor. The Scottish Secretary, Dr John Reid, has taken over as Northern Secretary from Mr Mandelson, who was yesterday forced from office over his controversial mishandling of a passport application by a wealthy Indian businessman.
Dr Reid was last night speedily acquainting himself with his difficult brief. Mr Blair will have informed him that failure to achieve a political agreement in the next 10 days could result in suspension of the Assembly and Executive. Despite Mr Mandelson's resignation, British and Irish officials, conscious of this tight deadline, are continuing intensive efforts to break the deadlock over policing, arms and demilitarisation.
Senior Dublin and London sources are anxious to maintain steady nerves among pro-Belfast Agreement parties. Sinn Fein president Mr Gerry Adams expressed concern that Mr Blair, who has been directly involved in these latest negotiations, could be "distracted by the fallout from the resignation".
But British and Irish sources offered assurances that Mr Blair would not be deflected from this stage of negotiations. "With Tony Blair and his chief of staff Jonathan Powell, and Bertie Ahern and Brian Cowen centrally involved, there is no danger of any loss of continuity," said a Dublin source.
The Minister of Foreign Affairs, Mr Cowen, praised Mr Mandelson's contribution to the peace process, but noted the awkward timing of his resignation.
"It comes at a time when the two governments and the pro-Good Friday Agreement parties are engaged in the most intensive efforts to achieve the full implementation of outstanding aspects of the agreement - a project to which Mr Mandelson was firmly and resolutely committed," he said.
The resignation of Mr Mandelson for the second time in his political career left Mr Blair badly shaken yesterday on one of the worst days for the Labour government. He was forced from office amid charges of a "monumental error of judgment" by Mr Blair after Mr Mandelson admitted he misled the Commons and the Prime Minister's official spokesman over his involvement in a passport application by the wealthy Indian businessman, Mr Srichand Hinduja.
After two hours of talks with Mr Blair at Downing Street, Mr Mandelson insisted he had not acted improperly, but admitted responsibility for misleading the government.
Maintaining his composure outside Downing Street after he tended his resignation, Mr Mandelson said: "I accept that when my office spoke to a Sunday newspaper at the weekend, I should have been clear that it was me personally, not my officials who spoke to a Home Office minister.
"As a result of that, wrong information was given to the House by the Culture Secretary, Mr Chris Smith, and by the Prime Minister's official spokesman to the press. I accept responsibility for that."
Mr Blair praised Mr Mandelson's "tireless efforts" in Northern Ireland.