Lord Mandelson – Keir Starmer’s pick to be U.S. Ambassador – has described Donald Trump as a “danger to the world” and “little short of a white nationalist and racist”. The Telegraph has the story.
The Labour peer, a key architect of New Labour under Sir Tony Blair, is set to take over the role of British ambassador to the U.S. when Trump begins his second term as President.
But the former Cabinet Minister previously warned against attempts to “make common cause” with the incoming President during his first term, saying that Trump would “never” be seen to embody British values.
The comments, made in an interview with an Italian journalist in 2019, threaten to undermine Sir Keir Starmer’s campaign to boost relations with Trump as he returns to the White House next month.
The Prime Minister’s decision to appoint Lord Mandelson, a political ally, was designed to signal to the incoming U.S. administration that Downing Street is taking engagement with the Trump camp seriously.
But Lord Mandelson’s scathing rebuke of the President-elect to Alain Elkann’s podcast in 2019 risks putting an immediate dampener on their relationship.
However, the Labour peer said he had never held such views about Trump, claiming he was merely describing the thoughts and feelings of British people.
It is the latest in a series of potentially damaging comments from senior Labour figures that have emerged in recent months, which could impact No. 10’s attempts to smooth over past differences with the Republican leader.
In his interview with Mr. Elkann, Lord Mandelson described Tory attempts to build relations with Trump, then in his first term in the White House, as disturbing.
He claimed that even those with a “sneaking admiration” for the President would regard him as “reckless and a danger to the world”, warning that Trump would “never be viewed by people in Britain as a true embodiment of or spokesman for our values”.
Lord Mandelson said: “I wake up today and discover that not only am I seeing my country, which I love, being forced out of its own European neighbourhood, but is crossing the Atlantic to make common cause with an American President who is little short of a white nationalist and racist.
“So you can imagine I am not very happy. This disturbs me greatly because it’s completely different from all my upbringing, whether my family or in politics, what I believe, and the identity I see for my own country.”
He added: “What Donald Trump represents and believes is anathema to mainstream British opinion and the idea that as a result of Brexit, we have to kowtow to an American President who holds those views will outrage people in Britain.
“Even those who have a sneaking admiration for Donald Trump – because of the strength of his personality – nonetheless regard him as reckless and a danger to the world.
“Also the way in which he has conducted himself in relation to the British Government, our Prime Minister, who he has insulted, and the way in which he treated Her Majesty’s Ambassador in Washington has been shocking to British people.
“In my view – re-elected or not – he will never be viewed by people in Britain as a true embodiment of or spokesman for our values and our interests.
“He treats us already as if we’re a new state and if Boris Johnson conducts himself like some mini-Trump, he will lose a lot of support in Britain.”
Lord Mandelson was picked for the influential post despite Trump commenting in the autumn that Nigel Farage, the leader of Reform U.K., would be a “great choice”.
Worth reading in full.
Mandelson claims he has “never held such views” himself. Hmm, let’s recap: “I wake up today and discover that… [my country] is crossing the Atlantic to make common cause with an American President who is little short of a white nationalist and racist. So you can imagine I am not very happy. This disturbs me greatly because it’s completely different from all my upbringing, whether my family or in politics, what I believe, and the identity I see for my own country.”
“Disturbs me greatly”, “completely different from what I believe”. Apparently, this is “merely describing the thoughts and feelings of British people”. Right.
Matthew Lynn adds that as someone who had to resign from the Cabinet twice in disgrace and whose “brand of Blairite centrism looks hopelessly old-fashioned”, Mandelson “will prove a catastrophic appointment”.
Stop Press: On hearing the news, Donald Trump’s campaign manager Chris LaCivita called Mandelson an “absolute moron” and said he should “stay home”. Getting off to a good start then.
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