Mandelson rowed back on previous comments after being appointed ambassador to the US. (Image: Getty)
has rowed back on his previous scathing criticism of
The Labour peer said his claim in 2019 that the US President is a “danger to the world” was “ill-judged and wrong”, after finally being given the greenlight for the role by the White House, according to reports.
Lord Mandelson had been appointed by the Prime Minister Sir to replace Dame Karen Pierce in the role, but there had been speculation that Trump could block the move.
Speaking to Fox News, Lord Mandelson, 71, said: “I consider my remarks about President Trump as ill-judged and wrong. I think times and attitudes towards 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.
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Lord Mandelson said his comments in 2019 were ‘ill-judged’ (Image: Getty)
Mandelson was among various Labour figures who were critical of Trump during and following his first term as President.
Speaking on the Alain Elkann Interviews podcast in 2019, Lord Mandelson said: “What represents and believes is an anathema to mainstream British opinion.”
He added: “Even those who have a sneaking admiration for because of his personality, nonetheless regard him as reckless, and a danger to the world.”
Lord Mandelson told the Italian journalist at the time that the Republican was “little short of a white nationalist and a racist”.
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But the former Hartlepool MP now says Trump, 78, is a “nice” and “fair-minded person”, who he now believes could be “one of the most consequential American presidents I have known in my adult life”.
“I think that with the approach he is taking to government, which frankly just seems to us in Britain so much more organised, it’s so much more coherent, he seems to be so much more clear in what he wants to do, we take encouragement from that, that gives us greater confidence,” he added.
Lord Mandelson’s confirmation in the top diplomatic role had previously been in doubt after Chris LaCivita, who was a co-campaign manager for Trump’s presidential election bid and is now a top aide, criticised the British government’s decision to put forward Lord Mandelson, claiming it was replacing a “professional universally respected ambo [ambassador] with an absolute moron”.
But on Wednesday, reported that a White House official confirmed Trump has agreed to accept Lord Mandelson’s letters of credence when he arrives in Washington DC next month, which will allow him to take up residence in US capital.