“Nice.” That’s how our (soon to be) Man in DC has described President Trump.
Nice? “Nice” is what you call a meal that doesn’t give you food poisoning. Or a friend’s dress she probably shouldn’t have bought. Trump may be many things to his Maga-minded zealots – tough, disruptive, brave – but not even they would call him “nice”. And those who have preferred the descriptors, “fascist”, “narcissist” or “evil” probably wouldn’t either.
But Lord Mandelson is days away from stepping into the beautiful UK embassy on Washington DC’s Massachusetts Avenue. And so, in an interview with Fox News (obviously) which had all the vibe of a hostage video, he was sticking to the line: “The President is a nice person, is a fair-minded person.”
Which will come as news to former secretary of state Mike Pompeo and security adviser John Bolton, who have just had their security revoked by Trump despite death threats. But still, the first rule of diplomacy is to build a constructive relationship with the leader of your host nation.
Oh, and don’t call Trump “a bully”, which Mandelson did in 2018. Or “reckless and a danger to the world”, which he did the following year. Or even “little short of a white nationalist”. To his credit Mandelson is, as the Yanks like to say, “owning” his previous comments. Or, arguably, curtailing his behaviour to mollify that “bully”.
Either way, in his interview, he said his previous comments about Trump were “ill-judged and wrong”. He spoke of his “fresh respect” for the President, saying he was “quite confident” Trump would approve of his appointment.
This now appears a mere formality, with Trump already having given the appointment the nod as relations warmed between the President and Keir Starmer. Last weekend he said our PM was doing a “very good job”.
Obviously we need a (very) good relationship with the US. We trade billions of dollars of goods with them each year. We need to protect the one million British workers employed by American firms. We need to engage Trump as best we can in playing a role in global alliances, rather than retreating into isolationism. Some may even want a free trade deal (if you fancy chlorinated chicken for your tea). What we definitely do not want is tariffs, which will shred any growth dreams and open the door here to Trump’s mini-me, Nigel Farage.
So life for Mandelson dealing with the Trump administration is going to be about smart dealing. Something in which both men are masters.
Mandelson – or the Prince of Darkness as he was once known – is the man who did so much to get Tony Blair elected, then stayed at the heart of power through dealing, schmoozing and scheming.
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Read MoreAlso like Trump, he is King of the Comeback. The President tells his supporters: “Fight, fight, fight.” Mandelson told his supporters after he was re-elected in his Hartlepool seat at the 2001 election: “I am a fighter… not a quitter.” Five months earlier he had been forced to resign as Northern Ireland secretary for his part in the Hinduja affair, when an Indian billionaire secured a British passport. Mandelson had already been forced to step down once by that time, from his position as trade secretary, for borrowing cash from a fellow cabinet minister to buy a house.
Mandelson’s enthusiasm for the European Union and “doveish” attitude towards China did not make him the most obvious candidate for the US ambassadorial role. And he hardly fits the testosterone-toting Trump administration’s idea of what a British ambassador might look like – somewhere between James Robertson Justice and Ant Middleton.
There has also been a vicious whispering campaign going on in Washington – and all its social media users – questioning Mandelson’s friendship with Jeffrey Epstein (even though Trump too moved in Epstein circles). It was probably this which led to Trump adviser Chris LaCivita calling the UK peer an “absolute moron”.
And yet in the new world in which we now live, today’s social media opponent is tomorrow’s best buddy. The question will be if Mandelson can adapt his fiercely pro-European and pro-China thinking to an America First environment.
His finely tuned political mind, and innate understanding of trade and success in business, stand him in good stead. As does his direct line into the PM. And, if he can tread that delicate tightrope an ambassador has to tread, with all the schmoozing and scheming it entails, this appointment could work well.
He has big boots to fill, following “Trump whisperer” Karen Pierce. Yet political shapeshifter Peter Mandelson may well do it.
I last saw him when I was editor of the Mirror and we were both invited to see Elton John’s sequin-spangled farewell tour. Afterwards my daughter asked me: “Who was that old guy dancing with us?”
“Oh,” I replied, “he is the great Svengali of politics.”
And what did we dance to? “I’m Still Standing”, of course. Which indeed he is. For now.
Alison Phillips was editor of the Daily Mirror from 2018-24; she won Columnist of the Year at the 2018 National Press Awards
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