Lord Peter Mandelson was confirmed on Friday as Britain’s ambassador to Washington, with a mission to speak to Donald Trump through Fox Information and keep at bay the specter of US tariffs.
The appointment ends weeks of indecision by Sir Keir Starmer over whether or not to ship the political heavyweight to have interaction with the incoming administration.
Some inside Britain’s International Workplace had urged the prime minister to stay with US ambassador Dame Karen Pierce, often called “the Trump whisperer”.
Nonetheless, Starmer’s allies say he in the end believed the case was overwhelming for sending a veteran politician and massive hitter to Washington, not least given Mandelson’s expertise in commerce points.
“It wasn’t a slam dunk,” mentioned one individual near the method. “The prime minister took his time. There were some in the system who wanted Karen to carry on. That was another option.”
Mandelson, a minister beneath Tony Blair and Gordon Brown, is a talented media and political operator, courting again to his days as Labour’s communications chief within the Eighties when he grew to become often called the “Prince of Darkness”.
“He’s a big name,” mentioned one other official near the choice. “He can do Fox News and the other TV channels and that’s a big part of the job. He’s in a league of his own.”
Mandelson, a former EU commerce commissioner, has additionally been appointed for his commerce experience, with an instantaneous instruction from Starmer to go off the specter of Britain being focused as a part of Trump’s proposed 10-20 per cent tariff on world imports.
“There’s no reason why Britain should be an immediate target,” mentioned one individual near Starmer. “Peter’s priority then is to design the sort of 21st century digital and services economic agreement, but that would be a medium-term objective.”
Earlier talks on a extra bold free-trade settlement between the 2 nations have damaged down over meals requirements — the UK bans chlorine-washed rooster and hormone-treated beef.
Starmer briefly thought of rival candidates earlier within the yr, notably former Labour international secretary David Miliband and former EU international coverage chief Girl Cathy Ashton, however they had been rapidly discarded.
“For a long time it has been “Peter or not Peter,” mentioned one Downing Avenue insider. “I never heard any other name mentioned in the ‘or not’ category over recent months. I don’t really know why it took so long.”
Mandelson is near Starmer however not in his interior circle. The potential ambassador was lower than diplomatic earlier this yr when he steered Starmer ought to “shed a few pounds”.
The 71-year-old has additionally been a magnet for controversy through the years. As a minister he was pressured to resign twice from Blair’s authorities and his previous contact with intercourse offender Jeffrey Epstein emerged final yr.
Final month, Mandelson steered Starmer ought to use Reform UK chief Nigel Farage as a “bridgehead” to construct relations with Trump and Elon Musk. “Did Peter really say that?” requested one Starmer aide on the time.
His seven-year stint as president of the Nice Britain China Centre, a non-departmental International Workplace physique, has made him a goal for Conservative China hawks and is unlikely to go unnoticed within the Trump staff.
Iain Duncan Smith, former Tory chief, mentioned: “His public stance and private position on China has been absolutely terrible.” He famous Mandelson was the one Labour peer to vote in opposition to laws concentrating on Chinese language “genocide” in Xinjiang.
After the vote, Mandelson advised colleagues that having a “general genocide definition in the formulation of foreign policy” could possibly be too sweeping and can be troublesome to use, leaving the federal government with its fingers tied.
These near Starmer mentioned the prime minister wished to attend till Jonathan Powell, nationwide safety adviser, and Morgan McSweeney, Downing Avenue chief of employees, had met the Trump staff earlier this month earlier than making a closing resolution.
Throughout this hiatus, some officers within the International Workplace pressed the case for Pierce, who took up her submit in Washington in 2020, to hold on, not less than for a yr. “She has very good relations with the Trump team — that was an option,” mentioned one authorities official.
However that was solely seen as a stop-gap resolution. “She couldn’t carry on forever,” mentioned one diplomat. She is now in rivalry to turn out to be the primary feminine everlasting secretary on the International Workplace.
Whereas Starmer delayed, a formidable coalition of backers fashioned behind Mandelson, together with David Lammy, international secretary, Powell and McSweeney.
“Keir likes to take his time with these decisions,” admitted one authorities official. “He did the same thing with the choice of a new cabinet secretary and national security adviser. But in the end the case for Peter was clear.”
Starmer accepted that having an enormous identify and political operator would assist to open doorways with the Trump staff. “They’ll like the fact that Peter has a reputation for ruthlessness,” mentioned one International Workplace insider.
Mandelson’s perception that Britain can “have its cake and eat it” by fostering good commerce relations concurrently with Washington, Brussels and Beijing chimes precisely with Starmer’s personal view that he set out in his international coverage speech at Guildhall earlier this month.
Starmer mentioned on Friday: “Peter will bring unrivalled experience to the role and take our partnership [with the US] from strength to strength.” Lammy mentioned it was “wonderful to welcome Peter back to the team”.
Mandelson, co-founder of the World Counsel advisory group, mentioned: “It’s a great honour to serve the country in this way.” He has advised buddies that he’ll put his enterprise pursuits “into cold storage” whereas in his new job.
Lord Kim Darroch, UK ambassador to Washington in the course of the first Trump presidency, mentioned most diplomats would settle for the case for inserting a political appointee into the Edwin Lutyens-designed ambassador’s residence at 3100 Massachusetts Avenue.
He advised the FT: “These are especially turbulent and fragile times. It’s not just about Trump 2 but it’s about Ukraine, China and Nato. In these circumstances it’s good to have someone who can literally pick up the phone to the PM.”
For Mandelson it has been finish to the yr, following his disappointment final month at being overwhelmed by Lord William Hague for the chancellorship of Oxford college.
On Monday he was in hospital having an operation on an aneurysm within the decrease aorta, which buddies say was “entirely successful”. His new posting in Washington is anticipated to start out early in 2025.
