Latest news with #PeterMandelson
Daily Mail
2 days ago
- Politics
- Daily Mail
GLEN OWEN: Blair's 'Dodgy Dossier' diplomat and a quiet coup in Downing Street
Jonathan Powell was slinking through the shadows of diplomatic life when he was talent-spotted by and given unprecedented power as his chief of staff. While the majority of Mr Blair's inner circle fell away over the ensuing 12 years – the victims of scandal, fatigue or in-fighting – Mr Powell stayed firmly by the Prime Minister's side until they both left Downing Street in 2007. His presidential-style job title carried with it the new, and arguably unconstitutional, right to issue orders to civil servants, and brought him into frequent contact with Peter Mandelson, now the UK Ambassador to Washington. The two men are the real forces in British diplomacy, with Foreign Secretary David Lammy reduced to an effectively ceremonial role. Both Mr Powell and Lord Mandelson have formidable private networks they are able to mobilise. In Mr Powell's case, as we report today, he founded an organisation, Inter Mediate, which is paid by Mr Lammy's department to carry out off-the-books diplomacy with rogue states. Oxford-educated Mr Powell, 68, is the son of Air Vice-Marshal John Frederick Powell. He was described as an ultra-Left 'Maoist' at his private school. In stark contrast, his brother Charles, now 84, was foreign policy adviser to Margaret Thatcher when she was Prime Minister – and is the only one of four siblings to pronounce the family name to rhyme with 'pole' rather than 'towel'. Jonathan Powell's early career in the Foreign Office took him to Lisbon, Stockholm and the spies' nest of Vienna towards the end of the Cold War. He was posted to the British Embassy in Washington in 1991 and caught Mr Blair's eye after introducing him to Bill Clinton. Mr Powell's time as part of the 'sofa Government' with spin chief Alastair Campbell ranged from the highs of the Good Friday Agreement in 1998 to the lows of the Iraq War and the publication of the 'dodgy dossier' justifying military action on the grounds that Saddam Hussein possessed Weapons of Mass Destruction. Mr Powell's time with spin chief Alastair Campbell (left) ranged from the highs of the Good Friday Agreement in 1998 to the lows of the Iraq War and the publication of the 'dodgy dossier' justifying military action on the grounds that Saddam Hussein possessed Weapons of Mass Destruction Mr Powell's central role in the fiasco was revealed with the later release of an email he sent to John Scarlett, the chairman of the Joint Intelligence Committee in September 2002, which appeared to suggest that the language used in an early version of the dossier should be toughened up. Writing five days before the dossier appeared, Mr Powell asked: 'What will be the headline in the Evening Standard on the day of publication? What do we want it to be?' After leaving No 10, Mr Powell spent a year as a banker at Morgan Stanley before returning to diplomacy as the UK special envoy to Libya in 2014. Then, last year, he was appointed as Sir Keir's special envoy to resolve the Chagos archipelago sovereignty dispute. His solution was to recommend we hand it over, lock stock and barrel, to Mauritius. Since taking up his job as Sir Keir's National Security Adviser – controversially as a political position, rather than as a civil servant, as was previously the case – Mr Powell has used his experience to tutor the Prime Minister in how to handle Donald Trump and Vladimir Putin, and to explain the complexities of the Middle East. He has also shuttled between London and Kyiv to try to broker a ceasefire in the Russian-Ukraine war. But some within Downing Street are growing increasingly wary about the influence of these smooth Blairites. In addition to Lord Mandelson and Mr Powell, there is Liz Lloyd, Mr Powell's deputy in No 10 during the Blair era, who is Sir Keir's director of policy delivery. At what point, they wonder, does 'experience' and 'guidance' become 'control'?
The Guardian
4 days ago
- Automotive
- The Guardian
Jaguar Land Rover axes 500 UK jobs after Trump tariff fallout dents sales
Jaguar Land Rover has said it will axe up to 500 management jobs in the UK, after the carmaker reported a plunge in sales linked to Donald Trump's tariffs. The British luxury car manufacturer said about 1.5% of its staff in the UK would be affected by the job cuts as part of a voluntary redundancy round for managers. JLR, which is owned by India's Tata Motors, employs 33,000 people in the UK. The car manufacturer reported a 15.1% drop in sales in the three months ended in June after a temporary pause in exports to the US. JLR stopped shipments to the US in April after Trump imposed a 25% duty on all foreign-made vehicles, before resuming them in May. The country accounts for more than a quarter of JLR's sales. Trump and Keir Starmer have agreed a trade deal which allows the UK to export 100,000 cars a year to the US at a 10% tariff, reducing it from the 27.5% levy imposed on other countries. Britain's ambassador to the US, Peter Mandelson, said shortly after the deal was agreed that it had immediately prevented job losses at JLR's factory in the West Midlands. JLR's chief executive, Adrian Mardell, said the deal would help to sustain 250,000 jobs across the car industry. Mandelson told CNN at the time: 'This deal has saved those jobs … That's a pretty big achievement in my view, and I'm very pleased that the president has signed it.' On Thursday, a spokesperson for JLR said: 'As part of normal business practice, we regularly offer eligible employees the opportunity to leave JLR through limited voluntary redundancy programmes.' The planned redundancies at JLR come as British businesses report they are under pressure due to a £25bn increase in employer national insurance contributions. The official unemployment rate rose to 4.7% in the three months to May, up 0.1% from April. Jaguar told its investors in June that, as a result of tariff uncertainty, it was lowering its forecast for margins on underlying profits, measured by earnings before interest and taxes, to between 5% and 7% this year, from 10% previously estimated. The company achieved a profit margin of 8.5% in the year to 31 March. The company reported a 12.2% drop in wholesale sales in North America. Sales in the UK also fell 25.5% in its second quarter after the planned wind down of older Jaguar models. The company stopped selling new cars in the UK late last year as part of its shift towards new electric models, which are expected to hit the market in 2026.
Daily Mail
7 days ago
- Politics
- Daily Mail
RICHARD LITTLEJOHN: The Labour morons are happy to damage Britain to support their half-baked virtues. Their treatment of Donald Trump tells us exactly why they can't be trusted
For once, I'm with Peter Mandelson. Our Man In Washington says Donald Trump should be welcomed with open arms when he makes his State visit in September because 'he really does love Britain'. You don't have to agree with the President's policies, or admire the cut of his jib, to acknowledge that as leader of our most important military ally and trading partner he is worthy of respect.
Newsweek
13-07-2025
- Business
- Newsweek
Donald Trump Wins Praise from 'Prince of Darkness'
Based on facts, either observed and verified firsthand by the reporter, or reported and verified from knowledgeable sources. British ambassador to Washington Peter Mandelson, known at home as the "Prince of Darkness," once said President Donald Trump was a "danger to the world... little short of a white nationalist and racist." Now, after successfully closing one trade deal with the U.S. president, he has drastically changed his tune. In a newly published interview with The Sunday Times, Lord Mandelson described Trump as "a unique politician" and a "phenomenon," showing that the British politician might have earned a new understanding of the U.S. president over several encounters in the last few months. "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," Mandelson told the British newspaper. An Exchange Of Pleasantries Across The Atlantic Mandelson, a Labour Party member, became Britain's ambassador to the U.S. in February of this year, right after Trump's inauguration. In his home country, he is a very well-known figure—and someone who many would recognize as fit to take on such a difficult role, as the U.K. tries to maintain the "special relationship" with the U.S. at a time of growing uncertainty. During his early career in the late 80s and early 90s, Mandelson became the communications guru behind Labour's rise to power under Tony Blair and one of the first figures to be recognised as a "spin doctor" in the U.K. His expertise in the "dark arts" of backroom political strategy and tactics earned him the nickname Prince of Darkness on the Left of the Party, and it stuck. At the age of 71, the politician now has a long career behind him which survived some notable downfalls. His political enemies likely thought he was done for after his second resignation from the government in January 2011, when he was accused of using his position to influence the passport applications of a businessman. The politician went on to become European Commissioner for Trade from 2004 to 2008 and first secretary of state under Gordon Brown's government between 2009 and 2010. In December, he was chosen by Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer to replace Dame Karen Pierce as ambassador to the U.S. U.S. President Donald Trump shakes hands with British ambassador to the United States Peter Mandelson after making a trade announcement in the Oval Office of the White House in Washington, D.C., on May 8, 2025.... U.S. President Donald Trump shakes hands with British ambassador to the United States Peter Mandelson after making a trade announcement in the Oval Office of the White House in Washington, D.C., on May 8, 2025. More JIM WATSON/AFP via Getty Images If his political background as a political operator rather than an experienced diplomat and previous statements made it seem Mandelson an odd choice, the facts have proved skeptics wrong. In May, when the two met at the Oval Office, Trump greeted Mandelson with a very friendly: "God, you're a good-looking fellow, aren't you?" In a show of appreciation, Mandelson later described Trump as a "people person" who takes people at "face value." The comment cleared the air after Mandelson had been called by Trump-aligned strategist Chris LaCivita an "absolute moron," in what appeared as a reaction to Mandelson's previously disparaging comment about the president. The British politician had already tried to make amends for those comments, going to Fox News in late January to say those have been "ill-judged and wrong" and claiming he had "fresh respect" for the president. Trump's 'Kernel Of Truth' In the interview with The Sunday Times, the British politician reiterated this point, saying that there is often "truth" in what the president says, even when what he says sounds like an exaggeration made to infuriate Americans. "He's not only a unique politician—he's also going to be one of the most consequential presidents in American history," he said. "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 added. "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." Mandelson brought the Trump administration's aggressive anti-immigration agenda as an example of this, saying that while ICE mass deportations have been portrayed negatively in the media, the U.S. president's goal is well-intended. "If you take immigration, for example, people feel that the work of ICE and the policy of deportation is extreme. But what he's trying to roll back was an extreme opening up of the Mexican border," he said. "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." In the U.K, Starmer has also been pushing for stricter measures against immigration, warning that Britain risked becoming an "island of strangers"—a term that sparked harsh criticism among Labour voters and some members of parliament.
The Independent
13-07-2025
- Automotive
- The Independent
UK's ambassador in Washington says Trump ‘really does love Britain'
Donald Trump is set to make his second state visit to the UK in September, following an invitation from King Charles. Peter Mandelson, the UK 's ambassador in Washington, anticipates a "warm reception" for Trump, stating the US president "really does love Britain" and "hugely admires it". Due to the visit's timing during the political party conference season, Trump is not expected to address MPs and peers in Parliament, nor visit Buckingham Palace or have a ceremonial carriage ride. Lord Mandelson described Trump as a "phenomenon" and a "unique politician" with a strong grasp of power and a quick understanding of issues. Mandelson highlighted the UK -US trade deal, signed in May, which reduced car import tariffs, suggesting it was facilitated by the UK 's departure from the European Union.
