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Lord Peter Mandelson, a former Labor Cabinet minister and EU commissioner, will be Britain's next ambassador to Washington, with the immediate task of averting a trade war with Donald Trump.
Mandelson is expected to take up the post next month, according to UK government officials, in a dramatic return to public life after years in the private sector and the Global Counsel Advisory firm he founded.
Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer has chosen Mandelson to succeed Dame Karen Pierce, who has served in Washington since 2020, and is known as “Trump's Whisperer” for her close ties to the incoming US president and his team.
Mandelson's expertise in the field of trade – he was business secretary in the last government of Gordon Brown and held the EU trade portfolio in Brussels – will be important in the new role.
This is a growing story.