Lord Peter Mandelson’s appointment as Britain’s ambassador to Washington was slammed on Friday by one in every of Donald Trump’s high marketing campaign strategists, who informed the veteran UK politician to “keep dwelling”.
Chris LaCivita, a Republican political strategist who co-managed Trump’s profitable presidential marketing campaign this 12 months, 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. “Substitute knowledgeable universally revered Ambo with an absolute moron – he ought to keep dwelling ! SAD!”
The publish got here simply minutes after UK Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer confirmed he had chosen Mandelson to exchange 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 have interaction with the incoming administration and attempt to keep at bay the specter of US tariffs.
Some inside Britain’s International Workplace had urged the prime minister to stay with Pierce, however Starmer’s allies mentioned the prime minister finally believed the case was overwhelming for sending a giant 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 have been some within the system who needed Karen to hold on. That was another choice.”
Mandelson, a minister underneath Tony Blair and Gordon Brown, is a talented media and political operator, relationship again to his days as Labour’s communications chief within the Eighties when he turned often called the “Prince of Darkness”.
“He’s a giant identify,” mentioned one other official near the choice. “He can do Fox Information and the opposite TV channels and that’s a giant a part of the job. He’s in a league of his personal.”
However his intensive media document can be a threat. In a 2019 interview he known 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 international imports.
“There’s no purpose why Britain ought to be an instantaneous goal,” mentioned one individual near Starmer. “Peter’s precedence then is to design the kind of twenty first century digital and providers financial settlement, however that will 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 12 months, notably former Labour international secretary David Miliband and former EU international coverage chief Girl Cathy Ashton, however they have been shortly discarded.
“For a very long time it has been “Peter or not Peter,” mentioned one Downing Road insider. “I by no means heard another identify talked about within the ‘or not’ class over current months. I don’t actually know why it took so lengthy.”
Mandelson is near Starmer however not in his inside circle. The potential ambassador was lower than diplomatic earlier this 12 months when he urged Starmer ought to “shed a number of kilos”.
The 71-year-old has additionally been a magnet for controversy over time. As a minister he was pressured to resign twice from Blair’s authorities and his previous contact with intercourse offender Jeffrey Epstein emerged final 12 months.
Final month, Mandelson urged 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, mentioned: “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 concentrating on Chinese language “genocide” in Xinjiang.
After the vote, Mandelson informed colleagues that having a “basic genocide definition within the formulation of international coverage” could possibly be too sweeping and could be troublesome to use, leaving the federal government with its palms tied.
These near Starmer mentioned the prime minister needed to attend till Jonathan Powell, nationwide safety adviser, and Morgan McSweeney, Downing Road chief of workers, had met the Trump workforce earlier this month earlier than making a remaining choice.
Throughout this hiatus, some officers within the International Workplace pressed the case for Pierce, who took up her publish in Washington in 2020, to hold on, at the least for a 12 months. “She has superb relations with the Trump workforce — that was an choice,” mentioned one authorities official.
However that was solely seen as a stop-gap resolution. “She couldn’t stick with it ceaselessly,” mentioned one diplomat. She is now in rivalry to change into the primary feminine everlasting secretary on the International Workplace.
Whereas Starmer delayed, a formidable coalition of backers shaped 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 ultimately the case for Peter was clear.”
Starmer accepted that having a giant identify and political operator would assist to open doorways with the Trump workforce. “They’ll like the truth that Peter has a popularity 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 deliver unrivalled expertise to the function and take our partnership [with the US] from energy to energy.” Lammy mentioned it was “fantastic to welcome Peter again to the workforce”.
Mandelson, co-founder of the International Counsel advisory group, mentioned: “It’s an important honour to serve the nation on this method.” He has informed buddies that he’ll put his enterprise pursuits “into chilly storage” whereas in his new job.
Lord Kim Darroch, UK ambassador to Washington throughout 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 informed the FT: “These are particularly turbulent and fragile instances. 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 cellphone to the PM.”
For Mandelson it has been finish to the 12 months, 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 “fully profitable”. His new posting in Washington is predicted to begin early in 2025.