Peter Mandelson is cynical, manipulative, ruthless, calculating, cunning and ambitious – and the perfect choice to be Britain’s new ambassador to Washington.
The Prime Minister’s decision to appoint the man once dubbed ‘The Prince of Darkness’ to the coveted role has caused consternation, especially among his old foes in the Labour movement.
‘For many reasons associated with Peter Mandelson’s history in and out of political office, many people will feel Keir has lost all sense of political judgment on this decision,’ raged Corbynite former Labour shadow chancellor John McDonnell.
‘Ugh!’ fumed Diane Abbott. ‘Mandelson [is] repeatedly referred to as a “big hitter” or “big beast”, even by himself! [These terms are] never applied to women in politics with just as much experience, some who have never been sacked from government or who have supported far fewer wars.’
But howls of Leftist anguish simply serve to underline the wisdom of the decision. Mandelson has the experience for one of the most demanding briefs in British diplomacy – fostering an unlikely alliance between the socialist son of a toolmaker and the populist godfather of the global MAGA movement.
As soon as the appointment was announced, Mandelson’s allies were quick to highlight the four years he spent as European Trade Commissioner, followed by a further two as President of the Board of Trade.
And delivering the Holy Grail of a UK/US trade agreement will be top of his inbox when he moves into his elegant Washington residence on Massachusetts Avenue.
‘This sends a clear statement that a new trade deal is back on the table,’ a government insider told me.
Yet it’s his time serving as Secretary of State for Northern Ireland – where he defied his critics by securing the respect and trust of all the parties of that divided province – that may provide the best preparation for his new posting.
‘The politics of Northern Ireland are a viper’s nest,’ one former colleague of Mandelson’s told me wryly. ‘And Peter was right at home there.’
True, not everyone within the UK diplomatic establishment is enamoured with the decision. It was an open secret in Westminster that Foreign Office officials were lobbying hard for the former head of MI6, Richard Moore, to be handed the position.
And while the Tories have opted not to comment formally on the appointment, one senior backbencher told me: ‘Peter’s a very smart guy, but completely the wrong fit for Washington. He’s pro-EU, pro-China, pro-Establishment.’
Keir Starmer takes a different view. And, equally significantly, so does his influential new chief of staff, Morgan McSweeney, who is said to have been backing Mandelson for months, initially over the reported objections of Starmer’s then chief of staff Sue Gray.
‘Morgan did have some influence over the decision,’ a No 10 official confirmed to me.
There had been speculation that Starmer had started to go cold on the idea. But that was scotched when his lordship was spotted sneaking – in characteristically surreptitious fashion – out of Foreign Secretary David Lammy’s grace and favour residence on Carlton Gardens ten days ago.
No 10 believes Mandelson has the requisite skills to charm Team Trump. Literally.
‘Peter’s charming, he’s highly political, and he’s got an extensive political network,’ one senior adviser told me.
‘Plus, he’s a character. And they tend to like characters.’
To understand Mandelson’s appointment you have to look not to his virtues, but his vices.
Ask any of his enemies, and they will cite the same flaws. ‘He’s Machiavellian.’ ‘He’s power hungry.’ ‘He’s arrogant.’ Maybe he is. But Downing Street’s calculation is that these are precisely the qualities Donald Trump respects.
And that when Mandelson arrives at the White House early next year, the incoming President will see a confident, politically skilful, powerbroker. In other words, a kindred spirit.
It’s a gamble. Like several of his colleagues, Mandelson was unable to resist taking some crowd-pleasing swipes at the resurrected leader of the Republican Right – comments which yesterday saw The Donald’s campaign manager hit back, branding our man in Washington an ‘absolute moron’.
Though perhaps Chris LaCivita would have been better off deploying Neil Kinnock’s more elegant put-down. When someone described Mandelson to the then Labour leader as an ‘evil genius’, Kinnock famously replied, ‘you’re half-right’.
But despite the diplomatic furore, it is a good move by Keir Starmer. New Labour’s Prince of Darkness is now Britain’s Prince of Darkness. And in an increasingly uncertain, chaotic and dangerous world, that’s no bad thing.
