Peter Mandelson will not represent the UK at Trump’s inauguration

It’s the big question all Westminster is asking right now. Who has got a golden ticket to Donald Trump’s inauguration? The quadrennial bash is happening in just twelve days’ time, with the great and the good all fighting to get a seat. Nigel Farage will be there, keen to show he’s still besties with “47” after his falling out with Musk. But while the Reform leader missed out on bagging the plum post of becoming “our man in Washington,” at least he gets a seat when Trump gets sworn in.

For Cockburn has confirmed that Lord Mandelson will not be representing the UK at the ceremony, with the role instead performed by outgoing ambassador Karen Pierce. Now, Pierce is a well-respected member of the DC diplomatic corps. Yet there is some surprise in Whitehall diplomatic circles that her extended exit period will cover an event so important to making contacts in Team Trump. Given the rather unprecedented nature of Mandelson’s appointment — being the first political appointment to Washington in fifty years — you might have thought that an accommodation in the handover timetable could have been found.

After all, given the comments of some in Trumpworld, Mandelson has his work cut out…