When Keir Starmer appointed Peter Mandelson as Britain’s new ambassador to Washington, there were reports that it might prove an unpopular move with the new administration. Mandelson rushed to curry favor with Donald Trump and his allies by repudiating critical remarks about the US president that he made back in 2019.

The politician-turned-diplomat claimed to have been “led rather along” by an Italian journalist when he described Trump as a “bully” and “a danger to the world” — a characterization that he now considered to have been “ill-judged and wrong.” He suggested that the intervening years had cleared up any misunderstandings about Trump: “I think that he has won fresh respect. He certainly has from me.”

It is not difficult to parse these comments for their true meaning. Back in 2019, Mandelson believed that Trump was on the downslope of his political career, making him a safe target for criticism. Now that he has returned to the White House, he is once more entitled to the “respect” that Mandelson has always shown for those who are wealthier and more powerful than he is.