Lord Mandelson: Ed Miliband will make a good Prime Minister
Ed Miliband "will make a very good Prime Minister" and is not anti-business, Lord Mandelson has said as he insisted a report that he sounded out an alternative Labour leader during a coup plot was "complete rubbish".
Speaking on Radio 4, the former business secretary said corporate leaders "will become much more reassured" about the opposition's position by the time of May's general election despite a barrage of criticism over recent days.
Two of the key figures in Tony Blair's New Labour project - Lord Mandelson and former-Downing Street media chief Alastair Campbell - reportedly contacted Alan Johnson over speculation that he was being lined up by MPs seeking to oust Miliband.
But both countered a claim in the Financial Times that they "took soundings to see whether he was prepared to take over".
Lord Mandelson insisted he did not "probe, let alone encourage" Johnson.
He said: "As a rather good friend of Alan Johnson it would be rather strange if I didn't phone him and find out what all this hype was about. But the rest of the story is complete rubbish."
He played down the significance of the conversation by suggesting they regularly talked as Mr Johnson represents a Hull seat in the Commons and the peer is the city's High Steward.
"I strongly support Ed Miliband's leadership and ... I want to see him as Prime Minister of this country," he insisted.