Is Lord Mandelson being ‘lined up’ as the UK’s next ambassador in Washington? The news that the Labour party’s arch-Blairite and one-time spin-doctor extraordinaire may be in the running for what is seen as the UK’s top diplomatic job has generated an immediate and impassioned reaction, much of it hostile. Some of this is because Mandelson is viewed as the epitome of New Labour. While others are concerned by the political and personal baggage Mandelson would inevitably bring with him.
Some of the very qualities that made him so successful in the UK and in Europe had the opposite effect in the US
Now it cannot be excluded that this is no more than a kite-flying exercise on the part of No. 10, designed to gauge the reaction at home and abroad, and to judge how far the negatives might outweigh the positives. On Wednesday, Mandelson appeared to distance himself from the rumours, briefing the Times that he has not put himself forward nor discussed the position with No.
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