A general reputational risk” is how, with typical British understatement, the civil service described the potential pitfalls to Sir Keir Starmer when he was contemplating appointing his former friend Peter Mandelson as Britain’s ambassador to Washington.
This “revelation” emerges from the first tranche of the Mandelson papers to be released – and, it is fair to say, it cannot have come as a shock to Sir Keir, or to anyone with even a passing acquaintanceship with Lord Mandelson over his long and eventful career in public life. Even the former minister’s fan club in the media conceded that he was a risky person to be entrusted with such a delicate role, whatever his formidable gifts and mastery of the “dark arts” of politics.
