Lord Mandelson’s appointment as the United Kingdom’s ambassador to the United States could leave Sir Keir Starmer with a bloody nose as he has made conciliatory gestures towards China over the years, GB News can reveal.
The newly resurfaced comments come ahead of Donald Trump’s inauguration on January 20, which coincides with Mandelson’s new appointment.
Lord Mandelson was a key architect of the “New Labour” project in the 1990s, playing a significant role in modernising the Labour Party, helping it shift towards the political centre and appeal to a broader electorate.
He earned the nickname “Prince of Darkness” due to his reputation as a master political operator and spin doctor.
Starmer will be hoping the former Business Secretary and European Trade Commissioner can draw on his extensive political experience to help the Government navigate the complexities of UK-US relations, especially as the incoming president is expected to wage trade wars with countries that run big trade surpluses, such as China.
Lord Mandelson was a key architect of the “New Labour” project in the 1990s
GETTY
However, instead of reaffirming the special relationship, Mandelson risks undermining it.
He has made conciliatory statements about China over the years, which could needle Trump as the president-elect plans to expand America’s tariff war with its third-largest trading partner upon returning to the White House.
When asked on the “Bloomberg Daybreak: Middle East” in 2018 whether China needs to come around to the ideals of liberal Western democracy, Lord Mandelson replied: “No that’s its choice. It has chosen many aspects of Western capitalism and our market system but it’s left our values of liberal democracy at the door. Well, that’s China’s choice and it’s not really for us to impose our system of politics and democracy on China just as it’s not open to China to act in a hegemonic way and seek to impose its system on others.
“We have to come to terms with the fact in the West that we are neither going to be great friends and allies of China but nor do need to be an enemy of China. We have got to find a way of partnering with China in the international community.”
To add further insult to injury, Lord Mandelson has directly criticised the incoming president, branding him a “bully” over his zero-sum approach to Uncle Sam’s trading partners.
“It is also necessary to recognize Mr Trump’s behavior for what it is: he is a bully and a mercantilist who thinks the US will gain in trade only when others are losing. His idea of a progressive trade policy is one that forces everyone else to give the US more favorable treatment rather than a trading system from which everyone gains,” the newly appointed ambassador wrote in an article he wrote for the Evening Standard in 2018.
The following year, the Labour veteran claimed Trump would “never be viewed by people in Britain as a true embodiment of or spokesman for our values”.
Lord Mandelson has made conciliatory statements about China that pose a threat to the special relationship
Getty
He also recently slammed the former Conservative administration’s tough stance on China following its crackdown on Hong Kong, signalling that a thawing of relations is in the offing.
“It was in danger of operating a boycott of Hong Kong and the necessary communication that Britain needs to maintain with China. And that’s what is going to change under the new government,” he said in an interview with Bloomberg.
Lord Mandelson added that the British Government “wants to, in time, recreate the strategic dialogue that Britain has had with China in the past”.
+ There are no comments
Add yours