Sir Keir Starmer is to make his most controversial senior appointment yet by naming Peter Mandelson as UK ambassador to the US.
Lord Mandelson, 71, known as the “Prince of Darkness” from his days as a New Labour‘s spin doctor, will be the prime minister‘s link to Donald Trump.
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The former cabinet minister and Brussels commissioner is a consummate political networker and his appointment will be seen by supporters as a masterstroke.
But he has also been one of the most divisive figures in British politics over many years and his appointment will be seen by Labour left-wingers as an act of cronyism by the PM.
Lord Mandelson had to resign from Tony Blair‘s cabinet twice, first over an undeclared bank loan and then over intervening in a passport application by a top Indian businessman.
A plum job
The Washington role, seen as the most glittering diplomatic post in the UK government, is due to become vacant when current ambassador Karen Pierce steps down early next year.
The perks of the job include the luxurious ambassador’s residence in Massachusetts Avenue, a magnificent Queen Anne mansion designed by top architect Sir Edwin Lutyens.
Lord Mandelson’s appointment is the first political rather than diplomatic appointment to Washington since Peter Jay, former prime minister James Callaghan’s son-in-law, in 1977.
Mandelson alongside Tony Blair and Bill Clinton in Northern Ireland in 2000
Farage among big name backers
Sir Keir is said by insiders to believe he has the trade experience and networking abilities to boost UK interests in the US during the tricky period of a Trump second presidency – with the prospect of tariffs looming.
Crucially, he has become a close ally of Sir Keir’s new chief of staff, Morgan McSweeney, and is backed by Foreign Secretary David Lammy. It is claimed Lord Mandelson was seen in the Foreign Office last week.
And significantly, Reform UK leader Nigel Farage, just back from talks with Trump allies, has said Lord Mandelson is “a very clever man” who can “master his brief” and would be “respected” by the president-elect’s team.
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The cap on a high-profile career
His appointment is not a total surprise. For the past month, he has been seen by Labour insiders as the clear frontrunner on a shortlist of four, also including former foreign secretary David Miliband.
The others were Baroness Ashton, also a former senior Brussels official, and Baroness Amos, a former international development secretary under Mr Blair.
Mr Miliband’s name was touted by Sue Gray, Sir Keir’s now ousted chief of staff, while Baronesses Amos and Ashton, who have strong links to the Democrats, were seen as a good fit if Kamala Harris had won the presidential election.
For Lord Mandelson, the appointment is likely to cap a high-profile political career which began as a TV producer and then Labour’s director of communications under Neil Kinnock in 1985.
Mandelson was a speechwriter for former Labour leader Neil Kinnock
‘A fighter, not a quitter…’
He was seen as a brilliant if ruthless spin doctor, who masterminded the birth of New Labour but would berate newspaper editors when unfavourable stories were written by their political journalists.
He became MP for Hartlepool in 1992 and helped propel Mr Blair to the leadership of the party after John Smith’s death in 1994, a move that led to a bitter feud with Gordon Brown.
Then he got his first cabinet job, trade and industry secretary, in 1998, but was forced to quit months later after failing to declare a home loan from Labour millionaire Geoffrey Robinson to his building society.
He bounced back as Northern Ireland secretary in 1999, but was forced to resign a second time over claims he helped businessman Srichand Hinduja with an application for UK citizenship.
When he held his seat in Hartlepool in the 2001 general election, he made a passionate and defiant victory speech in which he declared: “I’m a fighter, not a quitter.”
Mandelson was MP for Hartlepool from 1992 until 2004
…until he was
Yet three years later he did quit as an MP, when he became a trade commissioner in Brussels, which supporters in his new post claim gave him vital experience in trade talks with president-elect Trump.
But in his most spectacular political comeback until now, in 2008 his old foe Gordon Brown, by now prime minister but facing challenges to his leadership, brought him back as business secretary with a peerage.
A year later Mr Brown awarded him the grand title, previously held by Michael Heseltine under John Major, of first secretary of state, a position he held until Labour’s election defeat in 2010.
Mandelson was brought back into the fold by Gordon Brown ahead of the 2010 election
Blair’s famous quote
But he was very much a Blairite rather than a soulmate of Mr Brown. And in the run-up to Sir Keir’s election victory this year he was back in the fold, offering advice on campaigning and policy.
Acknowledging that Mr Mandelson was a controversial and divisive figure, Mr Blair declared in 1996: “My project will be complete when the Labour Party learns to love Peter Mandelson.”
Clearly the current Labour leadership loves him sufficiently to hand his this plum job, though many on the left of the party will be furious about his appointment.