Peter Mandelson yesterday said Donald Trump was shaping up to lead ‘one of the most consequential periods in modern America’, as he took up his new post as Ambassador to Washington.
In a cloying video, Lord Mandelson said he was ‘energised by the opportunity’ to work with President Trump, who he once described as a ‘bully’ and a ‘threat to the world’.
The video, filmed at the Ambassador’s palatial residence in the US capital, was designed to introduce the former business secretary to the American public.
He stressed his background in government and experience in setting up hiss successful international lobbying firm Global Counsel, adding: ‘I am ready to bring my policy knowledge, entrepreneurial spirit and experience at the highest level of government to the role.’
He said that he and his husband Reinaldo were ‘hugely grateful for the warm welcome since our arrival’.
Mr Trump’s campaign manager Chris LaCivita branded Lord Mandelson an ‘absolute moron’ who should ‘stay home after his past criticism of the President came to late.
Peter Mandelson yesterday said Donald Trump was shaping up to lead ‘one of the most consequential periods in modern America’, as he took up his new post as Ambassador to Washington
In a cloying video, Lord Mandelson said he was ‘energised by the opportunity’ to work with President Trump, who he once described as a ‘bully’ and a ‘threat to the world’
Lord Mandelson has since acknowledged his previous remarks were ‘ill-judged and wrong,’ adding: ‘I think that times and attitudes toward the president have changed since then.’
Yesterday he acknowledged he is ‘concerned’ about the looming prospect of tariffs and said Britain will ‘not necessarily agree’ with every detail of the new US president’s agenda.
Asked how the UK could try to persuade Mr Trump to change his position on certain policy areas without alienating his administration, he told the BBC: ‘Well, we’ve got to take all these issues as they come, realise that the president has a very strong and clear mandate for change in the United States.
‘Now that doesn’t mean to say that we’re going to agree in Britain with every single detail of what he does, but we have to respect and understand what drives him, what his mandate is to do, and how his allies need to adjust sometimes.
‘And I believe that, given the relationship that we have, we can always make our views known – best, by the way, directly and privately.’
