An interesting article in the Telegraph I thought:
Matthew Lynn
20 December 2024 11:04am GMT
Matthew Lynn
He will bring huge political experience. He has the political savvy and cunning to cut deals that would be impossible for anyone else. And he will have the clout to carry real influence in Washington. There were, in fairness, some good arguments for making Lord Mandelson the new British Ambassador to the United States. The trouble is, he is also someone who had to resign from the Cabinet twice in disgrace the last time he was in government, and whose brand of Blair-ite centrism looks hopelessly old-fashioned. In reality, Mandelson will prove a catastrophic appointment.
It was always going to be a far more important appointment than usual. With Donald Trump returning to the White House, the UK needs a heavyweight as Ambassador. The UK will need to steer a middle course between the US and Europe, avoid the tariffs Trump plans to impose, while keeping Brussels on board as well. Who better than Peter Mandelson, the dark genius of the New Labour era, and a man who, by reputation at least, always made Machiavelli look like an amateur when it came to negotiating deals? Well, almost anyone as it happens. In reality, there are two big problems with this appointment.
First, Mandelson is damaged goods. In the New Labour government, he resigned as Secretary of State for Trade and Industry after details of a loan he had received emerged. He was then re-appointed as Secretary of State for Northern Ireland, and had to resign all over again, as details of a passport application were made public.
Sure, Mandelson always insisted he had done nothing wrong, but, to put it politely, he was always accident-prone, and the accidents always seemed to involve money. It hardly helps that he has been running a successful consulting business, Global Counsel, which will now, quite rightly, come under intense scrutiny.
Second, he is surely well-past his sell-by date. You could make a case for Mandelson as Ambassador during the Clinton, or indeed Obama, Presidencies. He was one of the driving forces of third-way, liberal centrism. The trouble is, the Trump second term will be dominated by techno-libertarians such as Elon Musk who despise the Mandelsons of this world and everything they stand for.
They won’t be interested in what he has to say, nor will they be open to the backroom deals he will try to negotiate. He might be a big name, and he might have a good contacts book. But the harsh reality is that Mandelson is the wrong choice – and will prove another mis-judgement by a Prime Minister hopelessly out of his depth.
