Three of the Labour leadership contenders have attacked Lord Mandelson over his controversial memoirs, claiming his account of feuding in the Blair-Brown years has damaged the party.
In interviews with The Times, the candidates - David Miliband, his brother Ed and Andy Burnham - suggested it is time for the peer to leave the political stage.
David Miliband, former foreign secretary, said Lord Mandelson's book The Third Man is "destructive and self-destructive" and should have come "after retirement, not before...".
Ed Miliband, the former climate change secretary, said the peer is "his own worst spin doctor" and had "offended just about everyone".
He said: "I think this is sad and damaging to Peter, not just to the Labour Party", adding: "It's time for a new generation."
Mr Burnham, who was health secretary in the last Labour government, said: "Peter loves the spotlight but it's time to leave the stage."
Lord Mandelson insisted he had painted a flattering picture of Gordon Brown and Tony Blair, but his explosive revelations about the dysfunctional relationship of the men at the heart of New Labour sparked considerable political fallout.
The former business secretary denied reports that Mr Blair was "livid" after being quoted in the book as describing his eventual successor as "mad, bad, dangerous and beyond redemption".
Former Labour leader Lord Kinnock said the peer became a "caricature" of himself and questioned whether he was more interested in creating a sensation than adding to the historical record.
