He’s back, isn’t he? Benji, Bobby, Mandy, the Dark Lord — the many names for a singular political titan have begun to swirl around the Whitehall lobbies, as Peter Mandelson once again returns to the fray. In a stunning announcement on a tepid December Friday and now confirmed by President Donald Trump, the famed ‘Prince of Darkness’ makes his fourth and likely final return to British politics as UK Ambassador to the United States.
Few people define the phrase “political chameleon” better than Lord Mandelson. To some, he is the face of everything that makes Labour electable. To others, he is the face of everything Labour shouldn’t be. To many Tories, he was baptised Labour, and to many Labour supporters he was born Tory. He has been accused by some of working in the shadows, yet levered out of office for distracting attention from the government. Wherever opinion lies, his survival of over 40 years of British politics is a testament to his political skill.
Yet to many, Mandelson’s appointment as US Ambassador is a further example of Starmer attempting to run a government of thirty years ago in the present day. In borrowing policies from Tony Blair and the TBI, constitutional reports written by Gordon Brown and Blairite-Chief-of-Staff Jonathan Powell’s talents as National Security Advisor, Mandelson’s return would appear to mark yet another example of not-new-New Labour. However, his appointment runs far deeper than simply ideological alignment. Whilst a controversial choice for US Ambassador, he is far from a long shot.
Morgan McSweeney, the undisputed maestro of Starmer’s project and current Downing Street Chief of Staff, is a close ally of Mandelson. Both are lifelong campaigners. Both also have an emotional connection to the Labour Party — the Irish McSweeney joined in the wake of the Good Friday Agreement, whilst Mandelson comes from a long line of Labour party politicians. Both worked with Lambeth Council in bids to retake it for a centrist Labour brand. Indeed McSweeney worked for Peter Mandelson and input data into the Labour Party’s “Excalibur” database during the 2001 general election.
Even in the Corbyn years, both found themselves closely allied. McSweeney, like Mandelson, found the Corbynite image anathema to the Labour brand and had few qualms about attempts to oust the left-wing leader. McSweeney ran the centrist Labour Together think tank, Mandelson’s closest allies helped fund it. The think-tank would later choose Keir Starmer as their frontman to gain power.
With McSweeney now the most important voice in Downing Street behind the PM and arguably a Starmerite since before Starmer, Mandelson has found himself a powerful ally in the nucleus of British diplomatic power. But Mandelson’s allegiances do not stop at the Downing Street Chief of Staff.
Much of Starmer’s close operation involves those from Brown’s final days in Number 10, where Mandelson, as First Secretary of State and Business Secretary, helped to stabilise the sinking Brown premiership from September 2008 to the very end. Starmer’s closest cabinet colleagues — Pat McFadden, David Lammy and Yvette Cooper all served in a Cabinet that had Mandelson as First Secretary of State and the former two even deputised for him in the Commons during his time as a Lord in the Cabinet. Lammy now sits as Foreign Secretary and McFadden’s power and proximity to Starmer is so great he has earned the epithet “the real Deputy Prime Minister”.
Even in his other foreign policy appointments, Starmer has weighted experience over everything else, including political popularity. Nowhere is this more evident than in his appointment of Jonathan Powell to the role of National Security Advisor. Blair’s Chief of Staff for the entirety of his premiership, Powell is respected for his role in the Good Friday agreement, regarded by almost all who were involved as an invaluable contributor, visiting Northern Ireland monthly for the ten years he was Chief of Staff. The role of National Security Advisor is considered one of the most critical to UK security and foreign relations — Powell was the only UK official alongside Morgan McSweeney during a secret meeting with Trump’s Chief of Staff Susie Wiles in December 2024, and will work closely with Mandelson.
Amidst a turbulent time for British foreign policy, Starmer’s appointment of Mandelson also marks a piece of a larger puzzle, in ensuring a coherent foreign policy. All the top foreign policy jobs have gone to experienced allies who have worked together before. The chief civil servant at the Foreign Office and Head of the Diplomatic Service is the newly appointed Oliver Robbins, who served as Principal Private Secretary to Blair. The second most important Foreign Office job has gone to Michael Ellam, a former civil servant who was Director of Communications in Brown’s Mandelson-guided Number 10 and is now largely in charge of supervising a formalised UK-EU reset. And Mandelson and Powell also go further back than many, having worked together since the heady early years of New Labour and even Blair’s time in opposition.
Mandelson’s career has prepared him for such a high-profile role. Having served as both local and national campaign organiser, European Commissioner and finally Secretary of State for Business during one of the world’s greatest financial crises, Mandelson’s understanding of electoral politics at every level, EU bureaucracy and global trade makes him well poised to assume the role. This is ever-more clear when compounded with his political proximity to the most important players in the Number 10 operation, which has not been afraid to centralise its power.
Lord Mandelson’s appointment no doubt brings controversy given his recently-exposed dubious links and known political suave that has twice forced him out of the government, warranted or not. Despite this, it is clear his political network and experience undoubtedly makes him a significant choice for an increasingly nervous Downing Street. With four comebacks, if one thing is true it’s that he knows how to win a political fight. One that this time, could cost his beloved party a second term. Labour must hope he can deliver.
Starmer’s premiership will at best be heavily influenced by the next few years of the UK-US relationship. At worst it will be ruined by it. With tariffs and defence spending set to fundamentally reset the US-Europe relationship, many in Labour are fearful for their government’s plans and indeed their political future in 2029, not least exacerbated by transatlantic support for the insurgent Reform UK. The ambassador’s work, not least for his party’s sake, is cut out for him.
Tony Blair once said that his “project will be complete when the Labour Party learns to love Peter Mandelson." Almost thirty years later, Starmer could well say the same.
Image: Flickr
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