Lord Mandelson expected to be named as UK ambassador to US
Lord Peter Mandelson is expected to be appointed as the next British ambassador to the United States.
The Labor tycoon, who held a number of ministerial roles under Tony Blair and Gordon Brown before being given a life peerage in the House of Lords, is considered one of the front-runners for the job.
He succeeds Mrs. Karen Pierce, whose term in Washington, D.C., ends in early 2025.
An architect of New Labour, Lord Mandelson is seen as a key adviser to Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer in the run-up to the 2024 general election.
During that election he was one of the hosts of The Times’s How to Win an Election podcast, as well as serving as a trustee of the Design Museum and chancellor of Manchester Metropolitan University.
His name is associated with the chancellorship of the University of Oxford, where he attended, a position eventually awarded by former Conservative leader Lord William Hague.
“Nobody’s really talked to me about it,” he said in November of the U.S. ambassador’s role.
However, Lord Mandelson, 71, told the BBC’s Sunday With Laura Kuenssberg that he was “preferring a new relationship with the United States rather than a special relationship” and was “really very interested in telling anyone Providing advice on trade”. appointed”.
His appointment comes ahead of President-elect Donald Trump’s inauguration in January.
A government source said: “The fact that the Prime Minister has chosen to make a political appointment and send Lord Mandelson to Washington shows how much we value our relationship with the Trump administration.
“We are sending someone who has close ties to the Prime Minister and unparalleled political and policy experience, particularly on key trade issues. He is ideally suited to represent Britain’s economic and security interests in the United States.”
Both the White House and the Trump campaign received advance notice of the appointment.
Lord Mandelson was the Labor MP for Hartlepool from 1992 to 2004, during which time he served as Secretary of State for Northern Ireland and Business Secretary.
He resigned from ministerial posts twice – once for failing to declare a cabinet colleague’s home loan and the second time after being accused of using his position to influence passport applications.
