New blow for Mandelson as spy chief tipped for plum US ambassador role

MI6 chief Richard Moore is reportedly under consideration to be the UK’s next ambassador in Washington, in a fresh upset for former Labour spinner Peter Mandelson, who has been widely rumoured to be tapped for the key diplomatic role.

According to The Sun, Downing Street insiders say the spy chief is now in the running to be Keir Starmer’s representative to the US as Labour prepares for the incoming presidency of Donald Trump in January.

Sir Richard, who in September warned alongside CIA head William Burns that both countries faced “an unprecedented array of threats”, previously served in the foreign office and was Britain’s ambassador to Turkey from 2014 to 2017.

The development represents a new blow for Lord Mandelson after former Tory leader William Hague beat him to the prestigious chancellorship of the University of Oxford following a high-profile competition between the pair.

Earlier this month Lord Hague, whose appointment was announced on Wednesday, warned Lord Mandelson could not be both the UK’s next ambassador to the US and chancellor, telling the Independent that taking on both roles would be “incompatible”.

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Lord Mandelson said he would be capable of holding both positions because the role of Oxford chancellor was merely a “ceremonial figurehead”.

The Labour grandee, a key figure in Tony Blair’s New Labour project, said recently it was time for a “new relationship” with the US following the re-election of Donald Trump earlier this month.

Speaking recently on the BBC’s Sunday With Laura Kuenssberg programme, Lord Mandelson said, “I would be very interested indeed in giving advice about trade to whoever is appointed.”

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.

He also said during the interview that nobody had at that time approached him about the ambassadorship. “I read about it in the papers but nobody has actually spoken to me about it, so let’s put it to one side,” he said.

Sir Richard and Mr Burns jointly penned a piece in the Financial Times in September reflecting on decades of cooperation between the US and UK over the course of two world wars and in their fight against terrorism, warning: “The challenges of the past are being accelerated in the present, and compounded by technological change.”

“There is no question that the international world order – the balanced system that has led to relative peace and stability and delivered rising living standards, opportunities and prosperity – is under threat in a way we haven’t seen since the cold war,” they wrote.

They warned that staying the course in resisting Vladimir Putin’s war in Ukraine “is more vital than ever”, saying that Russia “will not succeed in extinguishing Ukraine’s sovereignty and independence”.