High profile, high risk: could Mandelson help tame Donald Trump?

Labour veteran Peter Mandelson is the first political appointment as ambassador to Washington in 50 years

For some months, Lord Mandelson had been going round London suggesting he had no desire to be appointed to the role of Washington ambassador, saying he would rather not become a hotel manager so late in his career.

His feigned lack of interest in shepherding a succession of middle-rank ministers through the British embassy, a 96-year-old recently restored Lutyens building, is typical of the smoke and mirrors that has surrounded his potential appointment.