British Prime Minister Tony Blair faces a dilemma after yesterday’s resignation by Transport Minister Stephen Byers: either to reshuffle his ministerial pack or risk bringing back disgraced ally and mentor Peter Mandelson.

Byers quit his job following a catalogue of public relations disasters and concern over the nation’s ailing rail network in the wake of a string of fatal crashes. Blair, flying back from a NATO summit in Rome, had not been expected to make any ministerial changes until the summer, although Byers was a hot tip to be relieved of his post then. Now he must act — and fast. The public is clamouring for better roads and trains and politicians have derided the government’s ten-year plan to provide them. A spokesman for Blair refused to comment on any reshuffle rumours but said an announcement on Byers’ replacement would be made today. If it is not Mandelson, other changes must follow.

The question is who dares take on a portfolio fraught with danger and offering scant hope of quick success. Even before Byers quit — he forewarned Blair on Monday — news broke of a Mandelson interview yet to be aired that stirred fresh speculation about the Houdini of British politics. “I love being a minister, I love being in government. It was what I was put on earth to be,” Mandelson told a local radio station, having declared in the past he had no desire to return.

It would be a miraculous recovery for “Mandy,” who has already quit government twice. The first time was over a massive loan he took from a ministerial friend to buy a house — when the colleague’s affairs were being investigated by his department. Then last year, Blair’s closest political ally was forced out again over allegations he had intervened in the passport applications of Indian billionaires the Hindujas shortly after they agreed to fund London’s ill-fated Millennium Dome. He denied any wrongdoing.

Blair, who once famously declared he would not count himself a success until he had taught his Labour Party to love Mandelson, would value his return although government sources say they talk most days anyway. Mandelson — one of the main architects of the Labour Party’s reinvention in the 1990s — is a fervent proponent of joining Europe’s single currency and could bolster Blair’s resolve in the run-up to a possible referendum on joining. He has many a rival in government. Chancellor of the Exchequer Gordon Brown slapped Mandelson down when as Northern Ireland Secretary he made a series of pro-euro speeches.

Brown is thought to be more cautious about the euro project and even if he is persuaded, does not relish outside interference in a policy he guards jealously. Other candidates for Byers’ job could be party chairman Charles Clarke, Byers’ number two John Spellar, Northern Ireland supremo John Reid, who briefly served as transport minister in Blair’s first term, or Brown’s Treasury deputy Andrew Smith.

If Byers is replaced by a senior figure in government that will necessitate a wider reshuffle sooner or later. MPs on both sides of parliament have speculated that Foreign Secretary Jack Straw could be under threat, although not immediately. Since the September 11 attacks on the United States, Blair has taken a keen personal grip of foreign policy, leaving Straw trailing in his wake. — Reuters