Trump relents and accepts Mandelson as ambassador

Labour peer’s OK tempered by resistance to Chagos deal

- DAVID MADDOX ANDREW FEINBERG

Lord Peter Mandelson will be the next British ambassador to the United States after Donald Trump agreed to accept his credentials.

The long-awaited decision ends a weeks-long standoff with the new US administration over the Labour grandee’s appointment to replace Dame Karen Pierce as the UK’s top diplomat in Washington.

A White House official has confirmed to The Independent that President Trump has finally agreed to accept Lord Mandelson’s letters of credence when he arrives in the American capital next month, allowing him to take up residence in Washington DC.

The end of the uncertainty over his appointment comes as the new US secretary of state Marco Rubio issued a veiled warning to foreign secretary David Lammy over the attempts to hand the Chagos Islands to Mauritius, as tensions between the UK government and US administration continue.

It also comes amid reports that US senators have handed a file to the FBI to investigate the Labour peer’s links to China, the primary reason that Mr Trump was said to be considering rejecting his nomination.