Peter Mandelson calls past remarks about Trump ‘ill-judged and wrong’
Peter Mandelson calls past remarks about Trump ‘ill-judged and wrong’
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Labour peer says president has won ‘fresh respect’ ahead of expected confirmation as ambassador to the US. Peter Mandelson has said his past remarks that Donald Trump was “a danger to the world” were “ill-judged and wrong” before his expected confirmation as ambassador to the US.
Speaking to Fox News on Wednesday morning, Lord Mandelson said Trump had won “fresh respect” with his “dynamism and energy”. Mandelson’s volte-face came amid reports he had received his diplomatic “agrément” – or agreement in principle – from the US to serve as the UK’s ambassador to Washington, despite concerns in Trump’s team about his links to China and the client list of his consultancy, Global Counsel.
Foreign Office officials said that, barring any unexpected obstacles, Mandelson would be formally confirmed in his role next month. Mandelson, a former Labour minister who now sits in the House of Lords, has also been critical of Trump in the past, describing him as a “bully” and “reckless and a danger to the world”.
Speaking to Fox News, Mandelson said: “I consider my remarks about President Trump as ill-judged and wrong. I think that times and attitudes toward the president have changed since then.”. “I think people have been impressed not just by the extraordinary second mandate that he has received from the American people, but the dynamism and energy with which he approached not just the campaign but government as well,” he added.
