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Lord Peter Mandelson, former Labor cabinet minister and EU commissioner, will be the next British ambassador in Washington, with the aim of preventing a trade war with Donald Trump.
Mandelson will take up the job next month, according to UK government officials, in the latest election by Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer of Tony Blair’s former strongman.
Starmer chose Mandelson to succeed Dame Karen Pierce, who has worked in Washington since 2020 and is known as “Trump’s gossip” for her close relations with the incoming American president and his team.
Mandelson’s experience in the business sector – he was business secretary in Gordon Brown’s government and held the EU’s trade job in Brussels – will be important in his new role.
Downing Street is expected to confirm Mandelson’s nomination on Friday and has already been briefed on Trump’s team, with whom Starmer is trying to speed up good relations.
Jonathan Powell, Tony Blair’s former and current chief of staff Starmer’s national security adviseris one of those who urged the prime minister to choose Mandelson, according to government insiders.
Mandelson was also supported by David Lammy, the foreign secretary, and Morgan McSweeney, Starmer’s chief of staff. Powell and McSweeney held talks with Trump’s team Florida and Washington earlier this month.
Mandelson’s appointment is a dangerous one for Starmer, given Labour’s ability to attract publicity and controversy.
However Mandelson’s supporters have said he has extensive international experience, including from his time as EU trade commissioner from 2004 to 2008. He previously served as a minister in the government of Blair.
Trump has threatened to force global tariff on imports to the US and Mandelson’s first task will be to try to persuade the president not to impose tariffs on British imports.
Starmer said he “absolutely rejects” the idea that Britain will have to choose between the US or the EU on trade; Mandelson also believes that better trade terms can be agreed with both.
He told the Times How to Win Elections podcast earlier this year: “We have to get through this, and I’m afraid, the best of both worlds. We have to find a way to have our cake and eat it.”
Mandelson’s appointment, first reported by the Times, comes after weeks of debate. Starmer was upset, according to those close to him, about report in the Financial Times last month that Lammy was supporting Mandelson’s candidacy. “He felt like he was being carved,” said one friend.
Downing Street insiders were also upset by Mandelson’s suggestion that Nigel Farage, the leader of Reform UK, could be the leader. a functional “bridge”. to the new Trump administration.
But Starmer eventually decided to use Mandelson’s experience with race politics – he came to prominence as Labour’s communications director in the 1980s – to manage the new UK-US relationship.
Mandelson, who was recalled from Brussels by Brown in 2008 to help save his ailing government, earned the nickname “Prince of Darkness” because of his mastery of the political arts.
He is taking the Washington job as a political candidate rather than a career diplomat, firing former foreign secretary David Miliband, who was also linked to the job.
“Donald Trump will know that Peter comes from a British government political family and speaks with prime ministerial power,” said an official close to Starmer.
“Obviously he’s used to negotiating in his old EU trade role, but he’ll have to brush up on those skills a bit and remember he’s an ambassador not a minister.” Lammy broke the news to Mandelson last week.
Although Mandelson has argued that Britain can find better trade terms with the US, UK officials have serious doubts about whether a full free trade agreement with Washington is possible.
The US would seek, in any such negotiations, UK market access for US farm products. Some, such as chicken soaked in chlorine, are banned in Britain.
David Henig, a business expert, said Mandelson could succeed. “Trump is running an old-fashioned court,” he added. “It’s the kind of environment where someone who knows who’s in – and who’s out – is going to be very important. You could see a good king in that.”
But Henig said Mandelson and Britain should avoid being drawn into trade talks with the US “which will focus on what we don’t agree with the US and the president’s angry tweets”.
Mandelson has told friends that his new job means he will have to put his business interests “in cold storage”.
He founded Global Counsel, an international consulting company, but remains active in public life. He recently failed in his bid to become a chancellor of Oxford university.
Mandelson also has strong ties to China, a part of his CV that he will not highlight in Washington. Until 2023 he was the honorary president of the Institute of Great Britain in China, which is a non-departmental public group supported by the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office.
There has been speculation in Whitehall that Pierce’s stay at the Washington embassy could be extended, given his closeness to Trump’s team. He helped arrange the first meeting between Starmer and Trump at Trump Tower in New York in September, and facilitated discussions with the Prime Minister’s staff.
Pierce is attached to the post of permanent secretary at FCDO in London.
