Lord Peter Mandelson’s appointment as Britain’s ambassador to Washington was slammed on Friday by one in all Donald Trump’s high marketing campaign strategists, who informed the veteran UK politician to “keep residence”.
Chris LaCivita, a Republican political strategist who co-managed Trump’s profitable presidential marketing campaign this yr, cited Mandelson’s previous criticism of Trump as a “hazard to the world” and “little in need of a white nationalist”.
“This UK govt is particular,” he wrote on X. “Change knowledgeable universally revered Ambo with an absolute moron – he ought to keep residence ! SAD!”
The put up got here simply minutes after UK Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer confirmed he had chosen Mandelson to interchange Dame Karen Pierce, often called “the Trump whisperer” for her work constructing ties to the incoming president.
Mandelson’s appointment ends weeks of indecision by Starmer over whether or not to ship the British political heavyweight to interact with the incoming administration and attempt to chase away the specter of US tariffs.
Some inside Britain’s International Workplace had urged the prime minister to stay with Pierce, however Starmer’s allies stated the prime minister in the end believed the case was overwhelming for sending an enormous hitter to Washington, not least given Mandelson’s expertise in commerce points.
“It wasn’t a slam dunk,” stated one particular person near the method. “The prime minister took his time. There have been some within the system who wished Karen to hold on. That was another choice.”
Mandelson, a minister underneath 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 an enormous title,” stated one other official near the choice. “He can do Fox Information and the opposite TV channels and that’s an enormous a part of the job. He’s in a league of his personal.”
However his intensive media file can be a threat. In a 2019 interview he referred to as Trump “little in need of a white nationalist and racist” and argued that even individuals who have a “sneaking admiration” for the incoming president view him as “reckless and a hazard to the world”.
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 cause why Britain must be an instantaneous goal,” stated one particular person near Starmer. “Peter’s precedence then is to design the type of twenty first century digital and providers financial settlement, however that may be a medium-term goal.”
Earlier talks on a extra bold free commerce settlement between the 2 nations have damaged down over meals requirements — the UK bans chlorine-washed rooster and hormone-treated beef.
Starmer briefly thought-about rival candidates earlier within the yr, notably former Labour international secretary David Miliband and former EU international coverage chief Woman Cathy Ashton, however they have been shortly discarded.
“For a very long time it has been “Peter or not Peter,” stated one Downing Road insider. “I by no means heard another title talked about within the ‘or not’ class over latest months. I don’t actually know why it took so lengthy.”
Mandelson is near Starmer however not in his interior circle. The possible ambassador was lower than diplomatic earlier this yr when he instructed Starmer ought to “shed a couple of kilos”.
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 instructed Starmer ought to use Reform UK chief Nigel Farage as a “bridgehead” to construct relations with Trump and Elon Musk. “Did Peter actually 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 workforce.
Iain Duncan Smith, former Tory chief, stated: “His public stance and personal place on China has been completely horrible.” He famous Mandelson was the one Labour peer to vote in opposition to laws focusing on Chinese language “genocide” in Xinjiang.
After the vote, Mandelson informed colleagues that having a “common genocide definition within the formulation of international coverage” might be too sweeping and could be tough to use, leaving the federal government with its fingers tied.
These near Starmer stated the prime minister wished to attend till Jonathan Powell, nationwide safety adviser, and Morgan McSweeney, Downing Road chief of employees, had met the Trump workforce earlier this month earlier than making a last choice.
Throughout this hiatus, some officers within the International Workplace pressed the case for Pierce, who took up her put up in Washington in 2020, to hold on, no less than for a yr. “She has superb relations with the Trump workforce — that was an choice,” stated one authorities official.
However that was solely seen as a stop-gap resolution. “She couldn’t keep on eternally,” stated one diplomat. She is now in competition to turn into 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 choices,” admitted one authorities official. “He did the identical factor with the selection of a brand new cupboard secretary and nationwide safety adviser. However in the long run the case for Peter was clear.”
Starmer accepted that having an enormous title and political operator would assist to open doorways with the Trump workforce. “They’ll like the truth that Peter has a fame for ruthlessness,” stated 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 stated on Friday: “Peter will deliver unrivalled expertise to the position and take our partnership [with the US] from energy to energy.” Lammy stated it was “fantastic to welcome Peter again to the workforce”.
Mandelson, co-founder of the World Counsel advisory group, stated: “It’s a terrific honour to serve the nation on this manner.” He has informed mates that he’ll put his enterprise pursuits “into chilly storage” whereas in his new job.
Lord Kim Darroch, UK ambassador to Washington in the course of the first Trump presidency, stated 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 informed the FT: “These are particularly turbulent and fragile occasions. It’s not nearly Trump 2 but it surely’s about Ukraine, China and Nato. In these circumstances it’s good to have somebody who can actually choose up the telephone to the PM.”
For Mandelson it has been an excellent finish to the yr, following his disappointment final month at being crushed 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 mates say was “totally profitable”. His new posting in Washington is anticipated to start out early in 2025.
