Nigel Farage offers to work with Peter Mandelson to secure US-UK trade deal
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Labour party divided on whether incoming US ambassador should lean on Reform leader’s ties with Donald Trump. Nigel Farage has said he would be willing to help Peter Mandelson negotiate with the Trump administration, after the Labour grandee was confirmed as Westminster’s new ambassador to the US.
![[Farage wearing a Make America Great Again cap at a Trump rally]](https://i.guim.co.uk/img/media/60f7d530f25e4474bb8a22cd28efb20a17e1a0e2/0_121_3653_2192/master/3653.jpg?width=445&dpr=1&s=none&crop=none)
Lord Mandelson has indicated he believes the Reform UK leader, a friend of Donald Trump, could serve as a link between the UK and the Republican president-elect. But Downing Street would not be drawn on whether Keir Starmer would like the political veteran to work with Farage, saying when asked only that the prime minister had “already started to begin to build a relationship” with Trump.
Farage has previously offered to use his relationship with Trump and his team to act as a bridge between them and Downing Street. He told the Telegraph he would be willing to work with people in Labour if it was in the “national interest”. “I am no fan of any of the people in the Labour party, but if it is in the national interest I have always thought I could be a useful asset if they want to use that - but if they don’t, more fool them,” the Clacton MP said.
Farage claimed he could help with talks on trade, tariffs, intelligence-sharing and countering terrorism. He said: “I know these people, and in terms of trade, in terms of defence and in terms of intelligence, the US is our most important relationship in the world – forget Brussels.”.
