Jonathan Freedland

He prefers people bringing him solutions.

And so, again, did that play a part in people thinking, you know what, don't bring this to him?

Instead, let it be settled at a lower level.

I think it suggests that the dependence that he had on Morgan McSweeney, his former chief of staff for all matters political, was huge.

I mean, because I think it's widely accepted that Mandelson was very much his idea.

McSweeney was very close to Mandelson.

Yes, exactly.

He carried the can initially.

He saw Mandelson as a mentor, with him as mentee, and he was very, very keen in particular to get Mandelson there.

The third thing I would say about it is, and I often do wonder if this is, in the end, the place, if it has any place in sort of future history.

The historians will look at this as just one more example of the warping effect of Donald Trump in power.

Because I just do not believe that Peter Madison would have got anywhere near this job,

If Kamala Harris had been elected in November 24, not Donald Trump.

It was the fact that Trump was there, it meant that there was a degree of panic.

Why were they rushing this appointment, not waiting for vetting?

It's because Donald Trump was going to take office on the 20th of January 2025.

They needed someone there.

As it happened, they had a perfectly good diplomat there, Karen Pierce, the sort of career official diplomat, who apparently the Trump people quite liked.

Oh, no problem on that score with her.

And so they were fine.