Lord Mandelson has sharply criticised Ed Miliband and Ed Balls' economic argument and mocked Gordon Brown's claim to have abolished "boom and bust".
In a speech in London on Thursday evening, the former Labour business secretary said the party needed to fight the next election on a platform of "economic transformation and prosperity".
Mandelson watched George Osborne's Budget statement, and Ed Miliband's reply, closely from the Commons gallery on Wednesday. He apparently was not impressed.
"The whole argument about whether we’re cutting too far and too fast, it’s in the past. It is rather predictable party political stuff from over the dispatch box, and it is a bit tiring to the public," he said.
The Financial Timesreports the former Labour spin master added: “We need to focus on how to redevelop our economy rather than fight about the past and fight about what’s too far and what’s far enough. The Labour party has got to offer more than that.”
The website London Loves Business also reports Mandelson made fun of Labour's economic record under Tony Blair and Brown, he said party had “overplayed its claims to have transformed the economy and to have put growth on an enduring upward trend”.
Making fun of Brown he said: "I can’t quite remember which member of the government it was who claimed to have abolished boom and bust. Well, we abolished boom!"