HE Lord (Peter) Mandelson: a cheerleader for Trump
The British ambassador HE Lord (Peter Mandelson), Keir Starmer’s personal choice, has been a prime exponent of the British government “asymmetric policy” of appeasement of Trump: conceal dissent from Trump from American voters but shower him regularly with tribute, thanks and flattery. Mandelson may well be the architect of this policy. He has gone beyond it to the extent of acting as a cheerleader for Trump within the American political system. All domestic opponents of Donald Trump have the right to seek his recall. As a gesture, they may also consider a public boycott of him.
Mandelson has paraded his new personal relationships with Trump’s MAGA supporters. (More on this to follow). He has made public speeches calling for a deeper relationship between Britain and the Trump administration (increasing Britain’s dependency on it) on the assumption that Trump is a trustworthy partner. He has called for greater scientific collaboration with Trump’s United States, ignoring the demands which Trump has already imposed on American science and academic life in general. He assumes that British scientists and researchers will be eager to advance Trump’s scientific agenda and take orders from whichever Lysenko he appoints to impose it on their branch of science. Of course there will be no vacancies in Trumpworld science for anyone working on disease control and future planning against pandemics, on climate change, on the preservation of endangered landscapes and species, or on any branch of science which threatens the position of his donors. Indeed Trumpworld will be a hostile environment for the scientific method in general and for evidence-based science.
Mandelson has also been especially fulsome in his public flattery of Trump. Two recent examples stand out. First, he described Trump as a "people person". Clearly Mandelson has ignored all the people whom Trump has scammed, threatened, bullied, abused and ruined in both business and politics.
Second is this passage by Mandelson.
“He is a more nuanced figure than people appreciate. Look, he’s not only a unique politician — he’s also going to be one of the most consequential presidents in American history. 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’s not a victim of analysis paralysis." That is certainly true; he is not even a victim of reading.
“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.”
At a time when even Trump's MAGA supporters are openly worried by the growing evidence of his mental collapse all opponents of Donald Trump are entitled to protest against this especially partisan interference in US domestic politics. They might ask whether Mandelson's views are shared by Prime Minister Keir Starmer and Foreign Secretary David Lammy. Were Mandelson’s public statements made with their knowledge and authority, or were they (in legal language) “a frolic of his own?”
Latterly, Jeffrey Epstein has moved back to the centre of the American political stage and revived concern over the long relationships between him and Ghislaine Maxwell and Mandelson and Prince Andrew (and of course Dotard Trump) Neither Mandelson nor Andrew has given a full and consistent account of these relationships. Both the British and the American peoples are entitled to receive one. No reliance can be placed on the bare word of either man, and Mandelson’s recent replies on the subject have been either evasive or intemperate. There are many concurrent Epstein-related proceedings in progress and any allegations about Mandelson or Prince Andrew could do this country immense harm with American public opinion, true or not, if as likely they became public.
On behalf of both peoples, the British government should be pressed to abandon any claim of diplomatic immunity for Peter Mandelson, or special privilege for Prince Andrew, in any Congressional or legal proceedings involving Epstein and Maxwell.