Peter Mandelson has been picked by Sir Keir Starmer to be the UK’s next ambassador to Washington.
The Prime Minister is to announce shortly that the New Labour veteran and former cabinet minister will take up the post following Donald Trump’s inauguration in January, The Times reported.
Mandelson will take over from Dame Karen Pierce, who built up strong links with Trump’s circle during his first term in office.
Pierce will remain in place for Trump’s swearing in ceremony on 20 January but Mandelson will take up residency in Washington later that month, it is understood.
It is the first time a British prime minister has given the post to a political appointee for nearly half a century, and follows a string of other New Labour veterans given senior posts traditionally reserved for civil servants or career diplomats.
The influential Lord Mandelson sat with Labour’s inner team while listening to Rachel Reeves’ speech to the Labour party conference in 2023 (Photo: Stefan Rousseau / PA Wire)But Mandelson has been praised by others across the political spectrum for his ability to engage and win people over – something that may be needed when Trump returns to the White House.
Despite Pierce’s strong performance in the job, Starmer is understood to have believed Mandelson’s background as EU trade commissioner makes him the ideal candidate to broker negotiations with the Trump administration about a UK-US trade deal.
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Read MoreTrump has warned he plans to introduce blanket tariffs when he becomes president and the UK faces a dilemma in navigating a new deal with the US and a post-Brexit trading relationship with the European Union.
Earlier this month Mandelson lost out on the job of Oxford chancellor to former Tory leader and foreign secretary William Hague.
The Labour peer is a close ally of Starmer’s chief of staff Morgan McSweeney and also won the support for the job of Foreign Secretary David Lammy.
It is likely that Starmer would have discussed Mandelson’s appointment with Trump on Wednesday when they held talks by phone.
Mandelson beat former foreign secretary David Miliband, Baroness Amos, a former development secretary, and Baroness Ashton of Upholland, who succeeded Mandelson as European trade commissioner to get the post.
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