Former British Secretary of State for Northern Ireland Ms Mo Mowlam, today bitterly criticised Mr Peter Mandelson, the man who succeeded her in the job.
She described him as someone who ignored people once they were of no more direct use to him.
Ms Mowlam, who quit Parliament at the last election, spoke out in an interview, in advance of publication on May 2 of her controversial book, Momentum.
She also referred to the alleged whispering campaign against her and the way Downing Street "interfered" in her last Government post as Cabinet Office Minister.
Ms Mowlam said: "I used to be a good friend of Peter Mandelson's. We got on well. He is a talented, skilled campaign strategist. But when he got the Northern Ireland job, he phoned me and said Reinaldo, his boyfriend, was worried about how he would be received and he wanted to talk to me and Jon (her husband) about the role of the wife.
"So they came to dinner. We talked to them both and Reinaldo was much happier by the end."
Ms Mowlam then offered to introduce them to people at Hillsborough to make the entrance easier.
"I did. And since then I haven't heard anything. I think that is Peter's downfall. His failure is that when you are of no more direct use to him, to ignore you. That aggravates people."
She was asked about the suggestion that Mr Mandelson put himself first before what the Government was trying to achieve in Northern Ireland. "It's always, Peter, Peter, Peter, without seeing the full picture in a rounded sense. So I don't think he necessarily did a good job."
She said it was a combination of factors which caused her departure from Northern Ireland. "It was partly because I wanted to try something else and partly I felt the briefing, the whispering, had made it untenable for me to do the job."
Ms Mowlam indicated that she was being ignored in the job. "People started going to Number 10. The Press started going to other people. The civil servants started turning away so I didn't see any point in staying around."