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Lord Peter Mandelson has said the UK should use Nigel Farage and Elon Musk’s British “friends” as a “bridgehead” to build relations with Donald Trump’s incoming US administration.
The suggestion by the former business secretary, who is considered the frontrunner to be the UK’s ambassador to the US, is at odds with official government policy not to engage Farage in an international diplomatic capacity.
Mandelson described Farage, who is now an MP and leader of the Reform UK party, as “a bridgehead, both to President Trump and to Elon Musk and others”, saying the UK should “swallow your pride” and engage with the Tesla and X leader’s associates.
“If I were the government here, I’d be asking the embassy in Washington DC to find out who [Musk’s] other British friends are . . . [and use them as a] bridge” to Musk, he told a Times Radio podcast on Tuesday.
Mandelson described Musk, who has become close to Trump and will helm the new US government efficiency department, as a “technological, industrial, commercial phenomenon” and cautioned it would be “unwise . . . for Britain to ignore him”.
Musk has been a frequent critic of Sir Keir Starmer’s government, claiming the UK “has become a police state” because of its treatment of online hate speech, and this week wading into farming protests by declaring Britain is “going full Stalin”.
Mandelson said: “You cannot pursue these feuds. You can’t afford to do it. We should try and kick it into touch as soon as possible.”
He said he would include Farage among the potential contenders to act as a bridge to the US: “You can’t ignore him, he’s an elected member of parliament. He’s a public figure. He’s a bridgehead, both to President Trump and to Elon Musk and others . . . National interest is served in all sorts of weird and wonderful ways.”
Starmer’s government has so far distanced itself from Farage, who has campaigned for Trump and spoken at his rallies. After Farage’s name was briefly floated as a potential US ambassador this month, Treasury minister Darren Jones said he should “concentrate his efforts on the constituents in Clacton”.
Mandelson’s comments about Farage seemed to blindside Starmer and his team. “Did Peter really say that?” asked one Number 10 official.
Asked about the Mandelson remarks at a press conference in Rio de Janeiro, Starmer said he had “no comment” to make about “appointments”.
Musk’s online criticisms have created some disquiet in British government about what it will mean for burgeoning efforts to regulate social media platforms.
Britain’s Online Safety Act that regulates social media platforms including X will come into full effect next year, and some British officials fear Musk could use his new position to try to jeopardise any new oversight of the platform.
In response to Mandelson’s suggestion, Farage told the Financial Times that he “might disagree with Mandelson on his politics, but he’s a very intelligent man”.
Asked if he endorsed Mandelson for the US ambassador role, he said that “of the list of runners and riders I’ve seen, he’s the most intelligent”. “He’s trying very hard,” he added, but questioned whether he could break his “commitment to the European Union”. Mandelson is a former EU trade commissioner.
In an interview over the weekend for a far right YouTube podcast, The Winston Marshall Show, Farage said he was introduced to Musk by Trump in the run-up to the US election.
He described Musk as “remarkably normal, affable, personable, amusing, opinionated and passionate”.
Farage said that he asked the tech billionaire — who was twice married to a British woman — why he had such an “extraordinary interest in this little island”.
He said Musk told him the UK was the “mother country of the entirety of the English speaking world”, and that the nation “really matters”.
Musk was “one of the quickest brains that have ever been built,” Farage added.
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