Can Peter Mandelson keep his mouth shut and wow Washington?

Contributing sentiments towards policy:

65% : From outside government, Mandelson shaped Starmer's answer to the $64,000 question: how can the UK government enjoy a special relationship with the Trump administration while rebuilding closer links with the EU, which Trump detests and his allies describe as "socialist?"After Trump's election victory, Mandelson declared the UK's goal must be to enjoy "the best of both worlds", adding: "We have got to find a way to have our cake and eat it."
49% : But it will be very difficult to navigate a path between the old economy in the EU and new economy in the US.
48% : "Some experts fear the UK could fall between two stools - but in Mandelson's ideal world, the US, UK and EU would strike a deal on the industries of the future, including AI and defence technology, to the benefit of all their economies.
43% : One close ally told me: "His approach will be to lean into the US without alienating the EU.
42% : Government insiders tell me the compromise will be to hug the US close on defence but, when push comes to shove, prioritise trade with the EU because of the urgent need to boost the UK's sluggish growth.
38% : One upside is that personal relationships do matter to Trump.
30% : Privately, Mandelson knows hard choices will probably have to be made - not least because Trump might force them on the UK.
28% : She impressed Starmer by helping him forge links with Trump, despite the previous scathing criticism of the president-elect by senior ministers including David Lammy, the foreign secretary (who backed Mandelson's appointment).
27% : His immediate, daunting task will not be to party, but to stop Trump imposing his proposed global tariffs of 10 to 20 per cent on the UK.
19% : In 2018, Mandelson himself described Trump as "a bully and a mercantilist who thinks the US will gain in trade only when others are losing".
18% : However, Mandelson does not believe "America first" will see Trump adopt the isolationist approach many fear because that would play into the hands of his enemies in China, Russia and Iran.

*Our bias meter rating uses data science including sentiment analysis, machine learning and our proprietary algorithm for determining biases in news articles. Bias scores are on a scale of -100% to 100% with higher negative scores being more liberal and higher positive scores being more conservative, and 0% being neutral. The rating is an independent analysis and is not affiliated nor sponsored by the news source or any other organization.