Sacked US Ambassador Peter Mandelson was selected because of the ‘unconventional’ White House, Labour minister Douglas Alexander said
Peter Mandelson was picked as the UK’s Trump whisperer because of the “unconventional” White House regime, a Labour minister has said.
Keir Starmer has been heavily criticised over his appointment as US Ambassador. On Thursday Lord Mandelson was sacked after supportive emails he sent to notorious paedophile Jeffrey Epstein came to light. The Labour peer had only been in place since February.
Calls are mounting for him to be stripped of his peerage. Scottish Secretary Douglas Alexander said: “The reason he was appointed was a judgment, a judgment that given the depth of his experience as a former trade commissioner for the European Union, his long experience in politics, and his politics and doing politics at the highest international levels, he could do a job for the United Kingdom.
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“We knew this was an unconventional presidential administration and that was the basis on which there was a judgment that we needed an unconventional ambassador.”
The Cabinet member told Sky News he felt “incredulity and revulsion” when he saw the email exchange, which was leaked to Bloomberg earlier this week. He said: “I’m not here to defend him (Mandelson).
“What is important is to know that when the Prime Minister became aware of the content of those emails on Wednesday, by Thursday morning Peter Mandelson was dismissed as the ambassador.”
And he went on to tell BBC Breakfast: “Nothing justifies Peter Mandelson’s appointment in light of what has now emerged and our thoughts have to be with everyone affected by Jeffrey Epstein’s heinous crimes.
“But the reality is, in the last couple of days Peter Mandelson was in the White House with Donald Trump. The reality is the United Kingdom did the first trade deal of any government with the Trump administration.”
He went on: “On one hand, Peter Mandelson did bring some very particular qualities to that job and to that diplomatic post, and on the other hand, as has been confirmed, there were manifest weaknesses of his judgment that have been brutally exposed by these emails.”
The fallout from the Mandelson crisis does not look likely to go away. On Thursday the SNP tabled an early day motion demanding he is stripped of his peerage.
SNP MP Brendan O’Hara said: “The minimum the public expect is that Peter Mandelson is now stripped of his peerage and permanently removed from the public payroll.”
And he continued: “Removing Mandelson from the House of Lords is an important next step in this scandal but with every passing day more and more questions are mounting at Keir Starmer’s door – his judgement, his reputation and his authority are firmly on the line.
“Peter Mandelson’s sacking isn’t the end of this scandal – until every question is answered and every document is released, this scandal will go on and on. The Prime Minister is at the very heart of this, and all these questions now fall on him.”
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