Mandelson is the wrong man, at the wrong time

Donald Trump’s campaign manager Chris LaCivita hardly minced his words on hearing that Peter Mandelson had been appointed as the British ambassador to the United States. Mandelson is an ‘absolute moron’, he said. While one might have chosen an alternative rhetorical style, there is no denying that Mandelson’s appointment at this particular moment in history is deeply problematic – it is emblematic of an out-of-touch Labour party incapable of deviating from the ideological misfortunes that have made it unpopular in such short order. The Starmer government’s decision to send this Blair disciple to Washington is extraordinary, at a time when a Trump administration poised for lift off.

To add insult to injury, Mandelson has openly insulted Trump on numerous occasions, calling him everything from a ‘danger to the world’ to a ‘little short of a white nationalist and racist’. For a man who is meant to represent the UK’s interests in Washington, these kinds of remarks are diplomatically catastrophic. 

The Trump administration is known to be unpredictable, but it’s hard to imagine it would warmly welcome a figure who has shown such disdain and disrespect for the president.