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Britain should move past the “special relationship” with the US, the frontrunner to become the UK’s next ambassador in Washington has said.
Peter Mandelson is a favourite to replace Dame Karen Pierce, who is overseeing the transition to Donald Trump’s second administration.
The Labour grandee, a key architect of Tony Blair’s New Labour, said it is time for a “new relationship” with the US.
Speaking on the BBC’s Sunday With Laura Kuenssberg programme, Lord Mandelson said he was “more in favour of a new relationship rather than a special one” with the US.
And, addressing speculation about the potential role in the US, he added: “Can I just make the point if you don’t mind: nobody has spoken to me about this job.
“I read about it in the papers but nobody has actually spoken to me about it, so let’s put it to one side.”
Asked whether he would be interested in the role, Lord Mandelson said: “I would be very interested indeed in giving advice about trade to whoever is appointed.” But a report last weekend suggested Lord Mandelson could be blocked from the role by a Trump administration because of his close ties to the EU.
Lord Mandelson said the UK should pursue a “digital and technological economic agreement” between the two countries.
He said it would be a “different sort of trade deal, not the old-fashioned sort of free trade agreement of goods and mortar.
“More sort of clicks and portals of the future, I would say, is the sort of trade deal that we need.”
He added: “I think that given that the United States and the UK are both such advanced digital countries and economies, there’s enormous scope here for us to align and to deepen the industrial economic trade partnerships between ourselves across the Atlantic.”
His comments come amid fears about Mr Trump’s approach to trade when he returns to the White House. He has threatened to levy a 10 per cent tariff on all imports to the US, rising to up to 60 per cent for goods from China.
And a top EU official on Sunday told The Independent Britain must chase closer ties with the EU following his re-election.
Sandro Gozi, the new chair of the European delegation to the EU-UK Parliamentary Partnership Assembly, told The Independent the bloc is looking to put academic cooperation, a youth free-movement deal and conversations about artificial intelligence on the table.
Former Hartlepool MP Lord Mandelson is also among the final five candidates to become the next chancellor of Oxford, alongside former Conservative leader Lord William Hague; former attorney general Dominic Grieve; Lady Eilish Angiolini, who is a pro-vice chancellor at the university; and Baroness Jan Royall, previously leader of the opposition in the House of Lords.
“I’m actually concentrating on and focused on something else,” Lord Mandelson, who was one of the key architects of Labour’s 1997 election success, said when asked about the ambassadorship.
“I know that people say that William Hague is a heavy hitter… he’s the favourite to be elected chancellor at Oxford.
“All I would say is that if the university does want a big hitter then it does have an alternative to look to.”
Earlier this week, a Cabinet minister said Dame Karen is “doing an excellent job” but could not say “exactly when her term will end”.
Cabinet Office minister Pat McFadden told Sky News: “She’s got the full confidence of the British Government, and we want her to keep on doing the job that she’s doing.
“And I think she’s going to be a very important interlocutor and adviser for the UK Government in this period of transition
He added: “I can’t say exactly when her term will end.
“She’s been doing it for a few years, but she’s there for the moment, she’ll be there for a while, and she’s doing an absolutely fantastic job for our country.”
