Peter Mandelson has dismissed the notion of Nigel Farage becoming Britain’s prime minister, despite Reform UK’s success in the local elections.
The UK’s ambassador to the US said Mr Farage, who is leading in the polls and won hundreds of council seats this month, was capitalising on voters’ frustrations at the lack of progress made by Labour in power.
Speaking at an event in Washington, Lord Mandelson said: “I’m not sure [the recent success] translates into people imagining that he’s going to be prime minister.
“But I take him seriously. Obviously, I think he’s got a strong, popular vote.”
Describing the results as “extraordinary”, he said Sir Keir Starmer was facing a similar situation to Sir Tony Blair’s New Labour following its 1997 landslide election win. The party began losing by-elections the following year.
“Within a year, I heard people say, ‘Oh, they got this colossal great majority at the election and what’s Blair done with it? Why hasn’t the world changed? Why hasn’t the country changed in a year? You know, people are impatient,” Lord Mandelson said.
The Labour peer, who was a key architect of New Labour and held a number of roles in Sir Tony’s government, also noted that the same “volatility of nationalism and populism” did not exist in 1997, and that there had been no threat of Mr Farage.
Reform’s surge in the polls has sent shockwaves through Westminster. The latest Techne UK poll for The Independent saw Labour fall two points to 23 per cent, with Reform rising three points to 28 per cent.
Meanwhile the Liberal Democrats also performed better than both the Labour and Conservative parties during the local elections.
Lord Mandelson added: “When I was in government and I organised the election that we did in 1997, we didn’t have the same volatility of nationalism and populism that exists.
“We didn’t have as fragmented a political system. We certainly didn’t have Nigel Farage. And the reason why politics has changed is partly because of the global struggle, partly because of the social impact of rapid globalisation and the impact of that on people’s lives.”
Speaking of his experience in the White House working with Donald Trump, who he previously described as a “danger to the world”, Lord Mandelson said he was a “rather gracious individual”.
Following the UK-US trade deal announced last week, the ambassador said he was “looking forward” to continue negotiating to bring down further tariffs.
Lord Mandelson told BBC Newsnight last week: “I’m very pleased with what we’ve achieved. It’s taken many months of very tough negotiation, and it’s also a platform going further and opening up more trade opportunities.”
He added: “We’re going to negotiate further and bring down further tariffs and remove further barriers to trade between us, that’s what we’re committed to, and I’m looking forward to doing that.”
