Peter Mandelson: ‘There's a kernel of truth in everything Trump says'

Times

a day ago

A uniformed man patrolling the Port of Baltimore asks: 'Do we have a security breach?' It isn't clear if he's joking. Someone has started driving laps around the high-security industrial complex in a rather expensive car that does not belong to them. That someone is Peter Mandelson.
The Aston Martin Vanquish (in dark green) is one of 200 American orders of Bond-mobiles that have just arrived at the dock from Gaydon, Warwickshire, and St Athan in south Wales: a dividend, we are told, of the UK-US trade deal that saw tariffs cut, saving several car companies from job losses.
The other week Mandelson, 71, bought a secondhand car in Washington. But as we take in the warehouse, the Labour veteran appears to be having second thoughts. 'Look at the soft top,' he says longingly, glancing at a baby-blue convertible.
'We are seeing brilliant first-class British products arriving here to pass into the hands of grateful, high-paying American consumers,' he says, switching to ambassador mode. 'That's very gratifying for me and the embassy team, having worked with London to achieve that. It means those Aston Martins and similar British products having a 17.5 per cent competitive advantage over Mercedes and Ferraris.'
Is this a Brexit benefit? 'That's a good question,'' the one-time Europhile replies, hours before President Trump unveils a new 30 per cent tariff on goods from the European Union. 'Undoubtedly, we couldn't have done this deal if we had remained part of the European Union. We lost many other things by leaving, but we get the chance to do this deal. So there's some positives.'
Mandelson arrived six months ago, but this is his first newspaper interview. He's had plenty going on in that time — tariffs, Ukraine and Iran — but initially the biggest question was whether he would still be in the job at this point. Mandelson, who once described Trump as a 'danger to the world', was a controversial pick and regarded with suspicion by Maga figures.
'One guy called me an absolute moron,' Mandelson says, referring to a tweet by Trump's election campaign co-chief, Chris LaCivita. 'I've been called many things in my life, but never a moron. Certainly not an absolute moron.' He now suspects foul play: 'I gather he had been teed up to say this, so that's life.' By who? 'Let's draw the veil.'
As things turned out, Mandelson, ended up playing midwife to the trade deal, which opens the door to a renewed special relationship. Trump greeted him warmly on entering the Oval Office, calling him 'a handsome guy'. The moment instantly cleared the air. 'Every potential cloud was lifted. That was the message to the Maga base that was needed,' he says. Since then, the welcome has been warm. 'I think they regard me as a slightly exotic target of their fascination … oh I shouldn't have said that,' he adds, before turning to apologise to his media adviser.
Having the presidential thumbs-up helped because all power in Washington descends from the Oval Office. 'I've never been in a town or a political system that is so dominated by one individual. Usually, you're entering an ecosystem rather than the world of one personality. But he is a phenomenon. A unique politician.' The pair have now met several times and Mandelson has also made inroads with the president's chief of staff, Susie Wiles. The pair attended the same dinner last week.
Yet there are limits to how far charm can go. The UK is still facing heavy steel tariffs as well as the base ten per cent rate on all imports. Can these be negotiated away? 'I think the ten per cent universal tariff is here to stay,' Mandelson says. 'But there is plenty of scope in different sectors.' He is pushing in particular for a technology deal.
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Having sold Britain to America, Mandelson now plans to do it the other way around and is planning a UK lecture this September on 'why the special relationship needs to remain special' — which could be a tough sell in a country where Trump is deeply unpopular. 'Our relationship with the United States is anchored not just in history and sentiment, but in mutual interest,' he says. He argues that this is more than just a symbolic alliance — it's an economic lifeline built on flows of trade and investment. And, by implication, bigger than the personalities running the respective governments.
What type of welcome should the US president receive for his unprecedented second state visit in September? 'He should expect a warm reception because he really does love Britain. He hugely admires it,' he replies. 'He trusts Keir Starmer. It's not a question of expressing our gratitude. My lodestar here is to demonstrate respect, not sycophancy. I don't think the administration has any problem with that.' Some of his Labour colleagues, however, have started a petition to stop Trump addressing parliament: Diane Abbott is one. 'Well there's a surprise,' he replies with a smile. 'But I had assumed that at the time of the visit parliament won't be sitting.' A problem avoided.
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In the UK are there misconceptions about Trump? 'He is a more nuanced figure than people appreciate,' Mandelson says. 'Look, he's not only a unique politician — he's also going to be one of the most consequential presidents in American history. He has this sense of history, this grasp of power which I think perhaps recent inhabitants of the White House haven't quite seen. He is not a man for endless seminars and thinking. He's not a victim of analysis paralysis. He has a very quick, easy way of grasping the core points about an issue. And let's be honest: more often than not, there's a kernel of truth in everything he says.'
This includes border control. 'If you take immigration, for example, people feel that the work of ICE [US federal immigration agency] and the policy of deportation is extreme. But what he's trying to roll back was an extreme opening up of the Mexican border. Allowing anyone from anywhere in the world to fly in and simply pass into the United States — and fan out across the country without any control or management! The public wouldn't stand it.' Illegal crossings, which peaked at 300,000 a month under President Biden, collapsed when Trump took office to about 12,000 a month.
Mandelson sees parallels between Trump's policy and Sir Keir Starmer's recent speech about three basic priorities: to control immigration, combat discrimination and promote integration. 'Those are the three guiding principles,' he says. 'You have to get all three right. You can't have a society growing apart, sections, groups, communities. That's when people get really worried.'
What did he make of the recent welfare rebellion in the UK on the same week Rachel Reeves cried in the Commons? 'It's not really right as ambassador to offer commentary on what's going on back home,' he says. Did he reach out to his old friend? 'I sent her an emoji.' Which one? 'That's between us.'
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Failure to control welfare and immigration is likely to help Nigel Farage, a sometime member of the court of Mar-a-Lago. Reform UK came up in conversation when Mandelson hosted JD Vance at the ambassador's residence for brunch recently while Vance's children played in the garden with Mandelson's 'diplo-dog' Jock . 'I explained to the vice-president that, yes, highly effective populists and political actors like Farage can take advantage. At the end of the day, at the election people will be choosing their future government — not having a fling, expressing a protest or demonstrating their impatience. And in that sense, I said, perhaps Nigel is peaking too soon.'
Mandelson says Vance gives the impression of being 'a bit of a brute' but is 'rather more nuanced in his views when talking in private'. He told Vance that their two governments have common ground. 'The mandates that both President Trump and Keir Starmer won at their elections last year came from the same sense of anger that many voters have. That they've been overlooked: the system was not delivering for them, that they were being taken for granted.
'But what's different about Britain is that we seem to have been travelling through a long, dark tunnel for ten years, with no signs of light or hope for people. It has just seemed one thing after another. And I feel people are emerging from that tunnel, almost blinking into the daylight.'
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Except there is not much daylight yet. Wages are growing so slowly that the average British worker is expected to be paid less in 2030 than they were before the 2008 crash. Mandelson acknowledges that voters will be frustrated if Starmer's landslide does not translate into progress. 'There's a problem in the majority. People think it's so big that remedial action will follow immediately; that things will be turned around overnight simply because of the size of the majority that the government has. I'm afraid that the problems built up over such a long period are very deep. I think as long as people see progress and momentum being maintained, they will stick with the government.'
And will Europe stick with America, when their president is threatening tariffs? Is Washington still a dependable ally? 'The first six months of Trump's presidency have demonstrated the opposite. People said he's an isolationist; that 'America first' means America alone. Well, that's obviously not the case. Forceful interventions: the opposite of isolation.' He goes on to list Trump's various foreign policy interventions from Ukraine, Iran, India and Pakistan and the Congo. So does Trump deserve a Nobel peace prize? A long pause follows. 'A lot done. A lot still to do.' A work in progress then? 'A work in progress.'
Trump's action on Iran has dismayed some of his Maga base, as has an official government report concluding there was no Jeffrey Epstein client list. Mandelson knew the deceased sex offender. Is there nothing to see here? 'I don't know whether there's a conspiracy or not. But thankfully he is literally in the past. And as somebody who met him, knew him, and regretted ever being introduced to him, I'm glad he's in the past.'
We leave the docks and head for a local delicacy: Chesapeake crab cakes. Mandelson recalls visiting a friend in Maryland when 'we had to tear apart and eat crabs for about two hours. It was quite exciting.' He wore a bib. Today's lunch is less effort.
Is he enjoying his new chapter? 'Washington is the most political city in the world. So it's hardly surprising that I feel quite at home. It's a town whose plot lines and narratives and intentions would feel very familiar to Shakespeare, Cicero and Charlemagne. It's like something out of a movie, this place. It's quite transactional but very social.'
He admits to finding it a bit 'relentless'. An average day involves getting up at six and then for the next three hours 'tuning into Britain'. That means playing back the Today programme and responding to 'countless messages and emails from London'. Then he moves to the 9-5: going to Capitol Hill and meeting business leaders — 'I mean endless meetings'. At 5pm? 'I hit the Washington social scene,' he says. 'Then I crawl into bed at 10.30 and it starts all over again at six. And weekends are similar to weekdays.'
For the 4th of July, he went to a party at the Kennedy Centre, hosted by the Trump ally Richard Grennell, and ate hot dogs. A few days ago he caught up with his old colleague Tony Blair who was in town. This weekend he's hosting a Wimbledon-branded bash where Jock will receive a special gift.
There were reports recently that George Osborne was on No 10's shortlist for the ambassador job prior to Mandelson's appointment. 'I had not heard that,' he says. 'George is a skilful and effective person. I think that there are real advantages in him … somebody with a political background is able to say things in ways more directly and get listened to when civil servants might find it harder.'
Are the requirements of an ambassador changing? 'Certainly in a country like this,' he says. 'As a former politician with sharp elbows who knows how to use his voice, who is practiced in reading the room, I think I can add value. So long as I don't fall out of the room.'