No one is safe in Trumpland - even the Prince of Darkness

20 January 2025, 17:29 | Updated: 21 January 2025, 00:10

It was a small signifier - one which could be over-interpreted - but nevertheless provoked angst among some in government at a time when there isn't universally huge confidence that UK-US political relations are as robust as they should be.

On Sunday, the British Embassy in Washington had a bash for members of the incoming Trump administration: a chance to boost goodwill amongst supporters of the 47th president as they prepared to descend on the nation's capital.

Organisers hoped to get a very high-value guest indeed: someone who isn't a household name, or a member of the incoming Trump cabinet, but who was set to become the most powerful attendee of the lot within hours - Susie Wiles, Donald Trump's chief of staff and long-time political consultant.

Credited with injecting a level of professionalism in Trump 2.0 absent in 2016 and 2017, Wiles is so close to Trump that he invited her to take the microphone as part of his victory speech on election day in November. As she almost always does, she declined the limelight.

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There are many good and understandable reasons why Wiles would have been absent from a British embassy party hours before her man swore the oath of office and returned to the White House.

We are told by the embassy she was writing the president's speech for the next day.

But her failure to attend was nevertheless a disappointment felt on both sides of the Atlantic. Just the latest source of insecurity, it seems, as the special relationship is put to the test. Insecurity at a very difficult moment.

As Donald 2.0 returns to the world stage, the rhetoric from Keir Starmer and David Lammy could not, superficially, appear more confident in US-UK links.

In remarks released on Sunday night, the PM talked about a shared history fighting common enemies and deepening the special relationship. But, behind the scenes, there is far less certainty that all is well - and we will soon see if this is true.

Nowhere will this be put to a faster, more brutal test than over the attitude of the White House, Trump allies and the president himself to Lord Peter Mandelson - the man Downing Street hopes will be the incoming British ambassador to Washington.

At some point in February, Lord Mandelson - known as the Prince of Darkness from his days as a New Labour spin doctor - will fly to Washington to present his credentials to the new president, a precondition of starting work in the job.

But, in truth, nobody really knows what will happen at that point: whether they will be accepted, and whether Lord Mandelson will be able to get on the job to which he has been tasked by Starmer.

In London on Sunday, government sources got to work claiming the suggestion his application to be the next inhabitant of 3100 Massachusetts Avenue could be rejected was just "bar room gossip".

But it is not.

In parts of government it is being considered a clear and present danger. A full-scale diplomatic effort over the coming weeks will be put into securing Lord Mandelson's position. The stakes are high, because of the way Number 10 has gone about this selection.

The fundamentals of our link to the US - the shared history, the Five Eyes security alliance, military and diplomatic cooperation - means a special relationship will almost certainly endure whatever the path of Trump's second presidency.

But the political ties between the Labour Party and Trump-leaning Republicans are deeply frayed and recently got worse, according to multiple sources I've spoken to - and much of this could play itself out in how Trumpland chooses to treat Lord Mandelson in the next few weeks.

Some of those around Trump have made it clear that the incoming president is still minded to reject Mandelson's credentials on two grounds: previous criticism of the president himself, and also over his support for China and business dealings with a country out of favour with the US.

All this against a backdrop of the first political diplomatic appointment to Washington in decades.

This means Lord Mandelson is also weighed down by all the baggage of months of rows over Labour's efforts to campaign for rival Kamala Harris and the role of Starmer's pollster Deborah Mattinson in the US during the election.

However, the manner of Downing Street's appointment of Lord Mandelson was just as big a problem as the name itself, I'm told.