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Keir Starmer's time is up

Pickman's model said:
Pluck an old phone directory off the shelf, open the volume at a random page and jab your finger at haphazard and you'll hit on someone who'd do at least as good a job as mandelson
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Yeh... or throw a little red book across the house at the opposite benches. I mean. That's judgment.

Figures on the left were more obviously displeased. The former shadow chancellor John McDonnell said on X: “For many reasons associated with Peter Mandelson’s history in and out of political office, many will feel Keir [Starmer] has lost all sense of political judgment on this decision.”
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littlebabyjesus said:
Trump forgives anything anyone has said about him in the past so long as they are currently sychophantic. Just look at his VP.

But this is a side-show anyway. Frankly, who gives a shit who the UK ambassador to the US is?
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This is a political appointment. As opposed to the usual golden handshaken given out to some nameless person. I assume Starmer's sending him to actually do business. Sorry. But I think it's a good move. I think Mandelson will be able to finally do some (relatively) good work there, in the four years we have to deal with this shitbag in power. He does actually have a Union background btw. Which I know is almost unbelievable. And is arguably to the left of Starmer.

Who would you recommend for the post instead? Just another nobody, who Trump wouldn't even know the name of?
 
Whatever else he might be, Mandy isn't a moron.

Can't see where it was now but I gather Trump is threatening the EU with tariffs if they don't buy more American oil and gas.

Mandelson has experience of trade arrangements - EU trade person etc
 
There are pictures all over bluesky of Musk sitting at a desk and Trump waiting on him. And others like that. I can't imagine Trump will be too pleased to see such things. The relations between them could sour quite quickly..

I don't do politics on X, but I wonder if they also have such images?
Don't want to break my no politics rule though.
 
Mandelson won three elections here. He's totally not a moron. Bonkers post by that strategist. It's based on Mandelson criticising Trump in the past. Could this shit get any weirder?
 
Petcha said:
Ma ndelson won three elections here. He's totally not a moron. Bonkers post by that strategist. It's based on Mandelson criticising Trump in the past. Could this shit get any weirder?
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It was Hartlepool, have you been there? I have very good friends who have the misfortune to live there, words fail me re that absolute shithole of a place.
 
Petcha said:
Mandelson won three elections here. He's totally not a moron. Bonkers post by that strategist. It's based on Mandelson criticising Trump in the past. Could this shit get any weirder?
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It's not weird is it? Mandelson is hardly a well known figure in the US. All that strategist will know about him will likely be the tweet in front of him where he disses Trump, plus the fact he's from the awful Marxist Labour party. Next they'll discover he's gay too.

And really, I'm not sure sending your sleaziest politician with a reputation for machiavellian ways is necessarily the best look, even for Trump's Washington.
 
lazythursday said:
It's not weird is it? Mandelson is hardly a well known figure in the US. All that strategist will know about him will likely be the tweet in front of him where he disses Trump, plus the fact he's from the awful Marxist Labour party. Next they'll discover he's gay too.

And really, I'm not sure sending your sleaziest politician with a reputation for machiavellian ways is necessarily the best look, even for Trump's Washington.
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Yeah, but Mandelson is a product of the British American Project, so they know that he is a solid pro-US NATO-ist.
 
PTK said:
Yeah, but Mandelson is a product of the British American Project, so they know that he is a solid pro-US NATO-ist.
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Well the Washington establishment will know that. But do the grifters around Trump give a fuck about any of that? That's the old consensus, surely? They don't give a fuck about NATO.
 
weltweit said:
Whatever else he might be, Mandy isn't a moron.

Can't see where it was now but I gather Trump is threatening the EU with tariffs if they don't buy more American oil and gas.

Mandelson has experience of trade arrangements - EU trade person etc
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And what sort of trade deals do you think Trump with be after in return for sparing the UK tariffs?

Fundamentally, he's going to want US penetration into UK markets where there are currently barriers of another kind, namely the various food standards we have here that make certain US imports illegal. Chlorinated chicken, anyone?

Before considering anything else, the first thing to think about is this: Do you want the UK to have good relations with Trump?
 
Petcha said:
Yeh... or throw a little red book across the house at the opposite benches. I mean. That's judgment.
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Well, one of the positive, but unintended, outcomes of McDonnell's joke about investments by the People's Republic of China in Britain was that Chuka Umunna revealed, not only that he did not understand irony, but also how ignorant he was of the views of Nelson Mandela, a man he claimed to admire.
 
two sheds said:
US health insurance companies will welcome trade deals with the UK :)
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There are lots of ways that I can think of in which a trade deal with the US is a less-desirable outcome than falling out with the US and having tariffs imposed (which of course are then reciprocated).

Tariffs and the exclusion of certain sources of US-backed capital? Bring it on. Fuck it.
 
In reality, of course, given the global supply chains involved in most manufacturing, tariffs will be devillishly hard to impose. I predict that any eventual tariffs will be much less wide-ranging than the ones Trump is currently talking about.

EG: Tariffs on Mexican steel? Sound great. Except that US car manufacturers buy steel from Mexico. So it's not just prices in the shops that go up, it's the cost of making a car in the US. There are thousands and thousands of such examples. Import Substitution Industrialisation is a very tricky thing to pull off.
 
It would increase prices of American companies' computers and electrical goods presumably, as you say we may be able to get supplies from countries without tariffs. Would increase Microsoft software prices for example though which might be hard to get round?
 
two sheds said:
It would increase prices of American companies' computers and electrical goods presumably, as you say we may be able to get supplies from countries without tariffs. Would increase Microsoft software prices for example though which might be hard to get round?
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It would increase the cost of manufacture of most of the things manufactured in the US. That's the problem here. It's an easy populist thing to talk about, not so easy to actually do. Easier if you're substituting, eg Mexican steel with US steel, but ramping up US production will take time, and there is no guarantee it will actually be viable. ISI was tried many times in Latin America where they were attempting to create things like steel industries from scratch. It has a very mixed record of success. Would a Trump administration have the wit to pull it off successfully? Doubtful. If anything, it's harder to do now than it was 50+ years ago when LA countries tried it. Supply chains are much more integrated now.

Also, Mexican steel is too expensive in the US now, so they can't sell it there? Ok. They sell it elsewhere. Other parts of the world get a boost to their manufacturing. It's a measure that could easily backfire and lead to an even steeper decline in US manufacturing.
 
PTK said:
Well, one of the positive, but unintended, outcomes of McDonnell's joke about investments by the People's Republic of China in Britain was that Chuka Umunna revealed, not only that he did not understand irony, but also how ignorant he was of the views of Nelson Mandela, a man he claimed to admire.
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It was the sort of thing that would have had captains of high school debating teams cringing. Juvenile beyond belief. But anyway. Derail.

I don't think he was joking either.
 
Petcha said:
It was the sort of thing that would have had captains of high school debating teams cringing. Juvenile beyond belief. But anyway. Derail.

I don't think he was joking either.
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You think that John McDonnell is a Maoist, and that he was supporting the policy of the Conservative government of encouraging investment in Britain by the People's Republic of China?
 
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