According to Dec. 22’s The Telegraph Lord Peter Mandelson, the just-announced new British ambassador to Washington, is said to be prepared to work with Nigel Farage (Reform UK party formerly Brexit), a close Trump ally, to help him “win over” the Trump administration to British policy. The Labour government fears getting into a trade war with a Trump administration, and being hit with large tariffs. Although the Labour government is nervous about any overture to the right wing, with which Farage is identified, a source close to Mandelson told The Telegraph that those who “need to conduct U.K.-U.S. relations in the most optimum way don’t feel that way.”
Last month, in his regular podcast for The Times, Mandelson urged the government not to ignore Farage, because he could help improve relations with Mr. Trump and Elon Musk. Farage has been close to Trump since the 2016 presidential campaign, and has said he’d be happy to act as the link to Trump and Musk for Lord Mandelson. “Our relationship with the U.S.A. is by far our most important,” said Farage. “If it helped the national interest, I’d be happy to act as a bridge.” Lord David Blunkett, a former Labour MP, offered, “I think it is really important that our new ambassador should use every possible U.S. contact and network to reach into the new administration.” Prime Minister Keir Starmer and Lord Mandelson himself are still trying to recover from the embarrassing past remarks they’ve both made about Trump.
Farage, however, gets along so well with Musk, that the latter is considering making a $100 million donation to Reform UK. But, The Telegraph notes, Mandelson believes that if Labour “is to have an effective relationship that could influence U.S. policy,” then it will have to mend fences with Mr. Trump and his allies. Seeing Musk as key, Mandelson said in November, that if he were in the Labour government, “I’d be asking the embassy in Washington, D.C. to find out who [Musk’s] other British friends are…. Who are they all? They have got to be used as a bridge to Musk. And so that’s what I would do … find out who his friends are and try to get into those networks.” And, he adds, “I would include Nigel Farage. You can’t ignore him. He’s an elected MP.”
Lord Kim Darroch, the former U.K. ambassador during Trump’s first term, who was forced to resign in disgrace for undermining the Trump presidency, pointed out that Mandelson, as a representative of a Labour government, would have no problem with the friendship between Trump and Farage. Farage’s friendship with Trump is such that “it’s clear that Farage is going to be over in Washington, perhaps more often than he is in Clacton,” his district. Darroch warned Mandelson that life under a Trump presidency would be “like a 24/7 bar-room brawl.” This goes on all the time—you need thick skin. Mandelson, with all his experience, will get through it. Darroch concludes that if he were Mandelson, he wouldn’t worry too much “about other voices in Donald Trump’s ear. That’s just going to happen. What you’ve got to do is make yours the most important voice.”
