How Peter Mandelson will shape Keir Starmer’s relationship with Donald Trump
Having known Peter Mandelson – aka ‘the prince of darkness’ – for over 30 years, Anne McElvoy can attest to his brilliance at anticipating shifts in mood, something that will come in handy when dealing with a volatile American president
Start as you mean to go on: Peter Mandelson trod in the wake of many 2025 mea culpas flowing from people who derided America’s 45th president as a dangerous aberration, only to find that he is back and more consequential than ever.
In Mandelson’s case, as the proposed UK ambassador to Washington, he was taking no chances. On Fox News, the default channel of right-wing America, he expressed regret for previous comments that Trump was “a danger to the world” and a “bully”, describing them as “ill-judged and wrong”. For good measure, he said the returning president had earned “fresh respect” with his “dynamism and energy”.
The interview was classic Mandelson: a fleet-footed, tactical play, intended to ensure that the formal diplomatic agrément to serve as the UK’s ambassador to Washington would have no last-minute thumbs down from a famously mercurial president.
Dubbed “the prince of darkness” for his behind-the-scenes influence, this was part of a well-formed strategic plan by Mandelson. For those close to the president who had doubts about his appointment due to his Labour background and connections to China and Russia, he was signalling that he is among a group favoured by Trump – those who have changed their minds about him since 2016. “He loves a convert,” says one senior diplomat in DC. “So Peter needed to show he is one.”
In an interview in the Financial Times a few weeks after that, he continued to signal to Trump’s circle that he was on side, saying: “What they will discover is I’m not an uber-liberal, I’m not a wokey-cokey sort of person, and I’m pro-market and pro-business.”
His more testy side was also on display after he was asked about his social connections to the late convicted paedophile and sex trafficker Jeffrey Epstein. The Times recently revealed how Mandelson appears to have stayed with Epstein in New York in 2012, but when asked about their friendship, Mandelson said: “I regret ever meeting him or being introduced to him by his partner Ghislaine Maxwell. I regret even more the hurt he caused to many young women.” He then added: “I’m not going to go into this. It’s an FT obsession and frankly, you can all f*** off. OK?”
More diplomatic discourse resumed after this unscheduled break, because for a man who has pursued success since supporting Tony Blair in the early 1990s, being named UK ambassador to the US a few weeks after, was a crowning moment. And it has come with nail-biting jeopardy from the beginning.
Had Kamala Harris won the election, it would have been David Miliband, who currently heads the International Rescue Committee in New York, moving to Washington, not him. But, as has so often been the case with Mandelson, fortune was on his side.
“Everybody knew it could not be David if it was Donald in the White House,” one member of Starmer’s close circle tells me. “You couldn’t imagine them riffing together. You can totally imagine Peter entertaining DT and getting his trust.” With support coming from Starmer’s inner circle, Morgan McSweeney (who started his career working for him) and stalwart cabinet office minister Pat McFadden, it was only a matter of time. And “Peter being Peter,” as Blair once neatly put it, this track was not one he was unprepared for.
Apart from a desultory presence in the Lords, Mandelson has been out of politics and more focused on building his public affairs company, Global Counsel. He offered Starmer free advice to help reboot Labour after the far-left Jeremy Corbyn experiment ended in defeat and disarray. Having known Mandelson since 1994, I can attest that he is brilliant at anticipating shifts in mood. He can also be mercantile: as much at home in the business-class world of dealmakers and status brokers as earnest public-service types. He is, as one ally puts it, “a study in fluidity”, but, at the same time, “Labour to the core” by loyalty and dynasty – he is the grandson of the powerful post-war deputy PM, Herbert Morrison).
In many ways, the grand Lutyens residence at 3100 Massachusetts Avenue – a DC social and political hub – is key to all this. It reopened in 2021 after a major refurbishment costing well over £100m, as part of a plan to ensure “Brand Britannia” shines in competitive Washington. Works by Grayson Perry and Andy Warhol hang on the walls. It is all swish velvet curtains and deep-pile carpets.
Washington A-listers rarely turn down an invitation – only the French and Swiss are viewed as serious competitors in party-hosting. And there is always a bit of British humour in the mix – the canapés are often mini fish and chips in newspaper wrapping, served with top-notch wine.
Dame Karen Pierce, the UK’s most senior female diplomat, was in charge here since 2020, and was ambassador to the UN for three years before that, so was well-known on the US “diplo circuit”. A bubbly mix of off-the-cuff charm and sharp political instincts, she is well-liked by Trump himself – serious currency in the new Republican politics, where people can float in and out of favour in a heartbeat.
While she told me last June that she was in no hurry to leave – “I will have to be dragged out of here by my fingernails!” – as the shape of the election results emerged, I asked if she thought Mandelson would be a good fit. “Whoever it is has to have pizzazz,” she replied. “He has pizzazz! You have to make an impact here and stand out.”
On the pizzazz front, I can offer some background, as someone who hit the dancefloor in a Prague discotheque with the prince of darkness early in the Blair years. This was not an easy period in Mandelson’s studies, and he often complained about political journalists. Relations could go from warm to frosty if an article displeased him, or a word irked him, by way of personal letters written in impeccable green-ink script on cream notepaper.
But after a long day at some forgettable conference, we wandered into the Old Town and had a long and spectacularly stylish (if I say so myself) boogie. Afterwards, I wrote for The Spectator that: “The member for Hartlepool’s taut thigh muscles were locked behind mine as we flung this way and that. We were the Olivia Newton-John and John Travolta of the Czech Republic: for one night only.”
It was a nice insight into Mandelson’s love of la dolce vita. He was famously pictured relaxing in an Eames chair when a minister, and in his Hartlepool constituency home he had an upstairs room with boxes full of 1980s records by artists such as The Communards, Bronski Beat, The Jam and Squeeze.
Socially, once in place, this will be the power base to watch in DC, and key to his success will be Mar-a-Lago’s world of brash luxury and transactional functionality. One recent visitor notes that “everything that could be branded as Trump is there” – from the wine to the placemats. There are some quirky reflections of the president’s known fixation on cleanliness – the swimming pool has a sign instructing guests not to use it if they have had diarrhoea. Dinners (and speeches) are long. “It is vulgar and showy and an expression of the showman side of Trump’s personality in a way that the White House can never be,” says one frequent visitor. “And Peter is going to love it.”
No one doubts that the new ambassador has the charm – and steel – to build relationships. His liking for “rich world” connections is well-known and has landed him in hot water on occasion. He lasted just five months in his role in the old Department of Trade and Industry, resigning following the revelation that he had earlier accepted a hefty loan from Geoffrey Robinson, who was then the paymaster general, to buy a house in Notting Hill.
He returned as Northern Ireland secretary in 1999 but had to quit in 2001 after being accused of helping one of the Hinduja brothers get a British passport in return for a £1m donation to the Millennium Dome. He was cleared by an inquiry, but then came another brush with trouble when he was revealed to have visited the (now sanctioned) Russian oligarch Oleg Deripaska on his yacht in 2008.
Overall, however, closeness to prominent, well-heeled friends has paid off. His closeness to Scott Bessent, the hedge funder and new treasury secretary – one of the most powerful roles in the new administration – will prove useful.
What happens to his links with Global Counsel, the lobbying and advisory company in which he is a 28 per cent shareholder, is still unclear. The Foreign Office will say only that there is “an established regime in place for the management” to handle previous interests. Mandelson has established political and commercial networks across the world from his role at the company.
Global Counsel is partly owned by a US partner, and Benjamin Wegg-Prosser, a youthful adviser in Mandelson’s party-political day, remains an advisor to the business. There are plans for a DC opening, no doubt to take advantage of the complexity and opportunities of the Trump era.
But there may be less appreciation from the administration for some of Global Counsel’s work for Chinese-backed companies such as the fast-fashion brand Shein. While Mandelson stopped working for the company last year, he retains his holding – an arrangement which will invite scrutiny, and which “China hawks” around Trump will not let go of easily.
His challenge, as one former ambassador puts it, will be to present himself as someone who understands Chinese power broking, but as someone Trump can also “absolutely trust”. Can he pull it off? The omens are good. As the new lunar year begins, according to Chinese astrology, the Year of the Snake symbolises intelligence, mystery and renewal – all attributes Mandelson has in spades.
He has told friends he wants a “win-win” relationship for the UK and US. Pretty soon, that will be put to the test. Mandelson and his quietly spoken Brazilian husband, Reinaldo Da Silva (the two married in 2023 having lived together since 1998), have moved into one of the most stylish residences in Washington. A president who loves glitz, glamour and power will have a new British ambassador to socialise and do business with. The Mar-a-Lago dancefloor beckons, but that nimble and ambitious footwork will need to be especially assured to avoid a tumble.
Anne McElvoy presents the transatlantic Power Play interview podcast for POLITICO
Join our commenting forum
Join thought-provoking conversations, follow other Independent readers and see their replies
Comments