One of Peter Mandelson’s predecessors has said that when the US president-elect returns to the White House next month, Peter Mandelson will need to work under Donald Trump if he wants to best represent Britain’s interests in a potentially chaotic government. Trump has the “most important voice” in his ears.
Kim Darroch, who served as Britain’s ambassador to Washington for four years starting in 2016, said Lord Mandelson would also need a “thick skin” to withstand regular attacks, such as what a Trump campaign adviser said after his appointment. He is an “absolute idiot”.
The top diplomat resigned from the post in 2019 after leaked communications showed he called the first administration “incompetent and unsafe” and warned that Trump’s second term would be “like a 24/7 Bar brawl” but said Mandelson was an experienced political operator.
Manderson was confirmed on Friday as Britain’s ambassador to the United States, a post that will put him on the frontline of British-American relations as Trump threatens to launch a global trade war with huge consequences for the British economy.
Lord Darroch is the highest profile of a group of senior diplomats who have dismissed insults directed at Manderson by Trump allies, saying he has enough experience in the tough world of diplomacy to succeed as ambassador to Washington.
Foreign Office sources rushed to Lord Mandelson’s defense after his appointment was confirmed on Saturday, prompting adviser Chris LaCivetta, one of the key architects of Trump’s presidential campaign, to call him ” A complete idiot.”
In an interview with Sky News, Darroch said he “doesn’t take any of this stuff too seriously,” adding that he did not believe the adviser involved was a member of Trump’s White House team and that he suspected he was “in touch with the president.” Clarified his boundaries – before he tweeted the election “.
He added: “Peter Manderson will speak for the British government and Donald Trump is ultimately interested in power and he will know that Keir Starmer has a huge majority in the British Parliament and is likely to become Prime Minister of the entire United Kingdom.
“So, if I were Manderson, I wouldn’t worry too much about other voices in Donald Trump’s ears, and that’s what’s going to happen. All you have to do is make your voice the most important voice.
Darroch added: “This is life in Trump 2.0, it’s like a 24/7 bar fight. This stuff happens all the time and you need to have a thick skin and you need to control it.
“It can be said that in order to weather the storm and withstand the test, Lord Manderson is a very experienced politician. I believe he can cope with this kind of thing.
He advised the next ambassador to prepare for Trump’s “5am tweet storm”, in which he would wake up early and use social media, causing panic in London, where the time was 10am.
Darroch also said the government must accept that Nigel Farage’s relationship with Trump will play a role in the relationship between the two countries. “It will become part of the landscape,” he said.
The Reform UK leader told The Telegraph on Sunday that he was willing to act as a “bridge” between Manderson and Trump given the importance of the relationship with the United States to the UK.
Manderson said in a podcast last month that the government should “swallow your pride” and “enter” Trump’s political network, even if it means using Farage as a link. Ministers have previously rejected the idea of reforming the leader’s role in intergovernmental relations.