LONDON — The British government shouldn’t snub Brexiteer Nigel Farage’s offer to act as a Donald Trump whisperer, according to the man hotly-tipped to be the new U.K. ambassador to Washington.
Peter Mandelson said the centre-left Labour government should utilize the Reform UK leader as a bridge to the president-elect, after ministers rebuffed the offer of help from a the right-wing populist.
“You can’t ignore him,” Peter Mandelson — a Labour peer who is a leading contender to become Britain’s man in D.C. said of Farage. “He’s an elected member of parliament. He’s a public figure.
“He’s a bridgehead, both to President Trump and to Elon Musk and others. You’ve got to be pragmatic, practical about this. You’ve got to work the national interest in and that national interest is served in all sorts of weird and wonderful ways.”
Farage, who became an MP in July after years of campaigning for Brexit, said last month he will “do all that I can” to help the government strengthen relations with a Trump administration. The Reform UK leader is a longstanding ally of Trump and spent U.S. election night at the president-elect’s Mar-a-Lago resort.
But the British government has previously brushed aside Farage’s request for help, with Cabinet Office Minister Pat McFadden insisting Labour would “have our own relationships” and arguing that Farage should prioritize representing his constituents.
Elsewhere in his interview, Mandelson talked up Trump ally Elon Musk’s record as a tech leader, despite months of beefing between the X owner — in line for a government efficiency gig under Trump — and Labour.
“You cannot just continue this feud indefinitely. You’ve got to get over it. You’ve got to. He’s got to be reintroduced to the British government.”
That may be easier said than done.
In his latest broadside Monday, Musk accused the U.K. of going “full Stalin” by upping taxes on farmers. He predicted “civil war” during riots that swept the U.K. over the summer, and posted a confected news headline about Prime Minister Keir Starmer building detention camps on the Falkland Islands.
Pressed on Mandelson’s comments at the G20 summit Tuesday, Starmer reiterated that the U.K-U.S. “special relationship” was “as important today as it’s ever been” and said he’d work with Trump to develop it further.
