Peter Mandelson is a gamble as US ambassador – but exactly what Trump needs

Tony Blair may think being in charge of the British embassy in Washington is like running an up market B&B, writes Jon Sopel. But with Trump back in charge, the job has never been more important or more difficult – and Mandelson is a class act

Lord Mandelson – who has been deputy prime minister, EU trade commissioner – is much more a rule maker than a rule taker (AFP via Getty Images)

One of the hardest things about being the British ambassador to Washington is giving it up at the end of your term.

You are living in one of the finest private addresses in DC – the only Lutyens built house in North America – with its fabulous art collection, swimming pool, tennis court and hot and cold running servants; with your chauffeur driven Bentley, manicured gardens – and you’re right next door to the vice president’s official residence on Massachusetts Avenue. Trading that for your semi in Balham, or wherever your civil service salary has allowed you to buy, is quite the readjustment.

And our embassy in DC has just been totally refurbished at a cost of tens of millions of pounds. Yes, there can still be a bit of a sewery smell on the lower ground floor, and the fireplace in the drawing room when lit invariably smokes out the whole house so that guests have to retreat to the terrace. But these are small details.

Peter Mandelson, who has an eye for the finer things in life, will like what he sees. Though I am told that when he discussed the possibility of taking up this posting with Tony Blair, the former PM looked utterly non-plussed: “Why would you want to be our ambassador in DC? All you’re doing is running an up-market B and B.”

Now, it’s true there is an element of that. Has there ever been a government minister who hasn’t wanted to sashay around Washington and be put up in one of the guest rooms on the top floor of the residence? The ambassador plays hosts to a lot of government ministers over from London who want to sit up late and discuss the intricacies of what is happening on the Hill, and discuss over breakfast the next moring how their policy initiatives will be received by Washington’s power brokers.

But the Blair view of the job is instructive when you are talking about Lord Mandelson as the new ambassador. The suggestion is that all his excellency is doing is carrying out the wishes of Whitehall. You are not making policy; you are there representing HM government to the Americans. And Lord Mandelson – who has been deputy prime minister, EU trade commissioner – is much more a rule maker than a rule taker.

That, however, is why he is probably perfect for the job, as the world prepares for Trump 2.0. The person Mandelson will take over from – Karen Pearce – has done an absolutely excellent job in managing relations with team Trump – and Trump himself. I’m sure that in the Foreign Office there will be a certain amount of sullenness that the plumiest of plum jobs has gone to a politician and not a career civil servant, but it is the right call.

To state the bleedin’ obvious, Trump ain’t no normal politician. And therefore, who you have as ambassador needs to be someone who can hold his own in the helter-skelter ride that awaits.

Our ambassador of Trump’s first term, Sir Kim, now lord, Darroch, is testament to that. Here was a career diplomat who quickly became roadkill, as he fell foul of Trump’s caprice.

There’s an argument that it is a huge gamble. Look how angry Trump was during the campaign when he heard that Labour apparatchiks were going out to the States to campaign for Kamala. But that was then. Now is now.

My guess is that the Trump inner circle will be flattered that such a big hitter from UK politics is being sent out to be “our man in Washington”. Mandelson is clever, feline and tough – and when he wants to be, seductively charming. He already has a great contacts book and will have the ear of the prime minister.

He was on our podcast The News Agents the other week – ostensibly to talk about the election to be chancellor of Oxford University. He said he didn’t want to discuss the possibility of going to Washington, but nevertheless gave some sharp analysis of where the Democrats had gone wrong in November and why Trump deserved to win. He spoke about how Labour needed to build bridges with Elon Musk.

It was classic Peter. He wasn’t talking about Washington (no, no of course you’re not, Pedro) but said a huge amount. You can bet those comments made their way across the Atlantic to Mar-a-Lago. And you can equally bet that’s exactly what he intended.

There are managerial bits to being the ambassador – the embassy has a huge staff covering all policy areas. But that can be run by the number 2. That is, after all, how the big US embassies work. The American ambassadors in Paris, London, Rome and Tokyo will invariably be the personal pick of the president and be his interlocutor with the highest levels of that country’s government – while the number 2, the charge d’affaires, will get on with the grunt work.

And if you look at the different dossiers that will have to be grappled with, post January 20 when the Trump second term kicks off, it’s going to need someone with some real political heft. Ukraine, Nato, the threat of sweeping tariffs, the relationship with China, intelligence sharing etc.

With Peter Mandelson there is always risk; a hint of jeopardy, a whiff of cordite. Remember, he was twice forced to resign from the Blair government. But the reason why Mandelson was always brought back will be the same reason Starmer has appointed him now: yes he has his faults, but he’s bloody good and a class act.

And as we all learnt after his re-election in Hartlepool in 2001, he’s a fighter – not a quitter.