Peter Mandelson confirmed as new ambassador to US – UK politics live

Starmer confirms Mandelson new ambassador to US, praising his ‘unrivalled experience’

Downing Street has confirmed that Peter Mandelson is the new ambassador to the US.

In a statement Keir Starmer said:

I am delighted to appoint Lord Mandelson to be the next British ambassador to the United States of America.

The United States is one of our most important allies and as we move into a new chapter in our friendship, Peter will bring unrivalled experience to the role and take our partnership from strength to strength.

I would also like to thank Dame Karen Pierce for her invaluable service for the last four years, and in particular the wisdom and steadfast support she has given me personally since July. She made history as the first woman to serve as UK ambassador to the US and she has been an outstanding representative of our country abroad. I wish her all the very best in future.

Key events

Pascal Lamy, the former World Trade Organization chief, has praised Mandelson as a “politician with an intellectual side, creative on the ideological level.”

He told Politico that Mandelson is “a rather remarkable personality who likes to be seen, who likes money, who likes parties, hence this sometimes sulfurous reputation that he has.”

“He works and communicates very very well,” Lamy added.

“He has an ego, let’s say, above the average, but hey, he has the intellectual means to afford that.”

A source close to the government told ITV News that Labour’s appointment of Mandelson shows how important the UK sees “our relationship with the Trump administration” with the former trade secretary having “unrivalled political experience”.

Quentin Letts, the parliamentary sketchwriter, has reacted to Mandelson’s appointment as the UK ambassador to the US on X:

No 10 announcement of Ld. Mandelson as HM ambassador to Washington includes, at end, a quotation from D. Lammy saying ‘wonderful to welcome Peter back to the team’. Will ‘Peter’ often bother to consult ‘team-mate’ Lammy? Or will he deal directly with Starmer/Powell? Poor David.

Afternoon summary

Keir Starmer has confirmed that Peter Mandelson is the new ambassador to the US and said he will bring “unrivalled experience” to the role. (See 4.28pm.) Diplomats have welcomed the news that Mandelson is getting the job. (See 9.24am.)

Lord Mandelson has said becoming ambassador to the US is a great honour.

It is a great honour to serve the country in this way. We face challenges in Britain but also big opportunities and it will be a privilege to work with the government to land those opportunities, both for our economy and our nation’s security, and to advance our historic alliance with the United States.

And David Lammy, the foreign secretary, has said:

It is wonderful to welcome Peter back to the team. He offers a wealth of experience in trade, economic and foreign policy from his years in government and the private sector.

He will arrive in Washington DC as we deepen our enduring alliance with the incoming United States administration, particularly on growth and security.

Starmer confirms Mandelson new ambassador to US, praising his ‘unrivalled experience’

Downing Street has confirmed that Peter Mandelson is the new ambassador to the US.

In a statement Keir Starmer said:

I am delighted to appoint Lord Mandelson to be the next British ambassador to the United States of America.

The United States is one of our most important allies and as we move into a new chapter in our friendship, Peter will bring unrivalled experience to the role and take our partnership from strength to strength.

I would also like to thank Dame Karen Pierce for her invaluable service for the last four years, and in particular the wisdom and steadfast support she has given me personally since July. She made history as the first woman to serve as UK ambassador to the US and she has been an outstanding representative of our country abroad. I wish her all the very best in future.

New Tory peer nominated by Kemi Badenoch says Britain should leave European convention on human rights

In his Telegraph article published today Nigel Biggar, who has just been nominated for a peerage by Kemi Badenoch, also says he favours leaving the European convention on human rights. He explains:

I’ve come to the view that it would be best for the UK to withdraw from the European Convention of Human Rights and the jurisdiction of the Strasbourg court. While its defenders protest that the convention was largely a British creation, the truth is that the British government subscribed to avoid political embarrassment – and against the strong advice of the chief justice, who warned that subscription would hand a host of political hostages to judicial fortune. If the US, Canada, Australia, and New Zealand can manage without the supervision of an international court, I am confident Britain can, too.

Who are the new Tory peers?

If there is one feature that stands out from the list of six new peers nominated by Kemi Badenoch, it is anti-woke. The most controversial name on the list is Toby Young, founder of the Free Speech Union, which spends much of its time defending the right of people to say things that would be deemed as bad taste, or worse, by the Guardian. As Ben Kentish from LBC points out on social media, Young has a long record of causing offence.

In 2018, Young was forced to resign from the board of the universities regulator after a series of tweets emerged in which he commented on various women’s breasts. E.g: “What happened to Winkleman’s breasts? Put on some weight, girlie.”

He was condemned after suggesting that wheelchair ramps in schools were a symptom of “ghastly inclusivity”.

He has also proposed offering “parents on low incomes with below-average IQs” the option of genetically engineering their embryos to make the child clever.

More recently, he was found by the press regulator to have published “significantly misleading” claims about the Covid pandemic.

Nigel Biggar, a professor at Oxford University, is a much more conventional candidate for a peerage. But he is also prominent in “anti-woke” circles, and he has been leading a project to challenge what he sees as overly-critical accounts of colonialism. His book, Colonialim: A Moral Reckoning got five stars in the Daily Telegraph, but was described by the Guardian as straining credulity. He has published an article for the Telegraph today saying “the repressive aggression of the ‘progressive’ left, supported by the timidity of the conflict-averse centre” helped to make him a Conservative.

Other names on the list are Badenoch allies, like Roger Evans, who served with her on the London assembly, and Rachel Maclean, the former MP who helped to run her leadership campaign. There is also a London element: Joanne Cash is a former parliamentary candidate in Westminster.

Who are the new Labour peers?

Peerage lists are normally dominated by former MPs well regarded by the party leadership, and that is the case with the list of 30 new Labour peers announced by Keir Starmer. It features eight former MPs: Luciana Berger, Kevin Brennan, Lyn Brown, Margaret Curran (who is also a former MSP), Thangam Debbonaire, Julie Elliott, Steve McCabe and Phil Wilson. There are also two former MEPs: Theresa Griffin and Claude Moraes.

Many of the other people on the list could be described as Labour grandees; people who have not been MPs, but who have had senior jobs in Labour politics, either in the trade union movement (like Brendan Barber, Mary Bousted, Kay Carberry), in devolved parliaments (Carwyn Jones, Wendy Alexander), in party HQ (David Evans) or working for a past or current leader (Anji Hunter, Deborah Mattinson and Sue Gray).

There are at least two appointments that reflect the emphasis that Starmer has placed on combating antisemitism in the party: Berger, who quit the party when Jeremy Corbyn was party leader because she thought he was too tolerant of antisemitism, and Mike Katz, chair of the Jewish Labour Movement.

Katz also belongs to another sub-group on the list: the Camden mafia. He is a former Camden councillor. Dinah Caine is chair of Camden STEAM, a youth employment project, and Simon Pitkeathley is chief executive of Camden Town Unlimited. Given that Keir Starmer is a Camden MP, the Camden links were probably helpful in getting them on the list.

And there are other names on the list with a personal Starmer connection. Gray, of course, left a good job in the civil service to become his chief of staff, but was then effectively sacked soon after Labour took office amid complaints that No 10 was not working effectively. And Alison Levitt KC was principal legal adviser to Starmer when he was on director of public prosecutions.