Peter Mandelson was born in London in 1953 and educated at Hendon County Grammar School and Oxford University. At the age of thirty-two he became Labour's Director of Campaigns and Communications, and he was elected as MP for Hartlepool in 1992. During Tony Blair's premiership he was Minister without Portfolio, Secretary of State for Trade and Industry, and Secretary of State for Northern Ireland. He stood down as an MP in 2004 to become EU Trade Commissioner, before returning to the government under Gordon Brown as Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, First Secretary of State, and Lord President of the Council. He remains in Parliament as a member of the House of Lords.