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Lord Peter Mandelson has urged Sir Keir Starmer to use Nigel Farage as a bridge between Donald Trump’s incoming administration and the UK.
The Labour peer, who is the favourite to be named as the next British ambassador to the UK, also warned that his party needs to end its feud with Trump ally and X (formerly Twitter) boss Elon Musk.
It comes after Mr Musk continued his social media assault on Sir Keir’s government this week by backing protesting farmers and likening Britain to a Stalinist state. He has previously attacked the Labour government over free speech and backed far right rioters over the summer.
In September, The Independent revealed that Peter Kyle, the cabinet minister responsible for social media and information technology, had not even spoken to the owner of X although the two had in effect communicated through intermediaries.
But speaking to The Times podcast, Lord Mandelson, who is also in the race to become chancellor of Oxford University, insisted that the government needed to bring an end to the feud.
He said: “[Musk] is a sort of technological, industrial, commercial phenomenon. And it would be unwise, in my view, for Britain to ignore him. You cannot pursue these feuds. You can’t afford to do it. We should try and kick it into touch as soon as possible.
“If I were the government here, I’d be asking the embassy in Washington DC to find out who his other British friends are. Who are they all? And they’ve got to be used, I think, as a bridge to Musk. And so that’s what I would do.
“You know, swallow your pride, find out who his friends are and try and get into those networks. 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.
“And one good way of doing that might be through some of his British friends, even if they are not, as I say, you know, bright red supporters of the Labour government.”
Asked about whether Mr Farage should be used as a middle man, Lord Mandelson agreed.
He said: “Yes, I would include Nigel Farage. I mean, you can’t ignore him. 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.”
Mr Farage has volunteered himself to be an envoy to the US but so far cabinet ministers have resisted the idea.
Last week in prime minister’s questions (PMQs), Sir Keir responded to a question from Mr Farage joking that he had spent so much time in America that he “expected him to be included in the immigration statistics.”
