This time has 'tearful' Mandelson finally run out of spin?

The BBC's interview with Peter Mandelson offered ample evidence of the Labour peer's "formidable political brain", according to Louis Mosley, the UK head of the US data firm Palantir Technologies.

- Daniel Boffey Chiefreporter

An indefensible error of judgment had been made by Mandelson, "as he said himself", Mosley added in a panel discussion with Laura Kuenssberg following the airing of some of the 30-minute interview on her Sunday morning political show, but "as you saw there, he is a masterful interpreter of Trump and we now live in a world where that man will determine much of what happens, and we need people who can be that translation function".

The capacity of Lord Mandelson for network-building is undoubted. The former Labour cabinet minister's fairground ride of a career suggests it is both his superpower and his kryptonite.

He was withdrawn last September as the UK's ambassador to the United States after emails emerged detailing his close relationship with the billionaire serial sex offender Jeffrey Epstein. They revealed that Mandelson had advised his "best pal", as he described the American in 2003, to "fight for early release" on the eve of his sentencing in 2008 for soliciting prostitution and procuring a person under the age of 18 for prostitution.

Mandelson's tendency to be drawn like a moth to a flame to those with power and wealth had let him down again. But then Downing Street insiders said Mandelson had been appointed ambassador in the first place, despite the serious reservations of many, including the prime minister, thanks in large part to another relationship he had built with a quite different character: Keir Starmer's chief of staff, Morgan McSweeney. "Mandelson was a mentor to him," said one insider.

As it happens, Mosley, the UK head of Palantir and the grandson of Oswald Mosley, leader of the British union of fascists in the 1930s, is no stranger to Mandelson's charms either. Palantir was for years a client of Global Counsel, the strategic consultancy firm founded by Mandelson. During Mandelson's time as Britain's ambassador in the US, Mosley and Palantir hosted Starmer at the company's offices in Washington DC.