'Process ongoing!' Mandelson edges closer to becoming US ambassador just hours after FBI probe China 'links'
WATCH: Darren Jones responds to reports that Trump is considering blocking Lord Mandelson's application
GB News
Lord Peter Mandelson is edging closer to being confirmed as the UK's Ambassador to the US just hours after the FBI opened a probe into his "links" to China.
Downing Street sources have told GB News tonight the "process is ongoing", while Whitehall sources familiar with the appointment process added: "It is a process not an event so premature."
Insider comments come after it had been reported that Donald Trump had seemingly given the green light to Mandelson's appointment.
However, peculation about Mandelson taking post in Washington comes just weeks after Trump's senior campaign advisor Chris LaCivita branded the New Labour grandee a "moron" on social media.
The Trump regime has reportedly confirmed Mandelson as the new ambassadorGetty/PA
Senior adviser for the Trump campaign Chris LaCivita
Getty
It was reported earlier today that US senators passed on a file to the FBI to investigate the Labour peer’s links to China, a major reason behind President Trump's apparant reservations about Mandelson's appointment.
However, two inside sources told Politico that the Trump adminstration granted Mandelson his agrément, a diplomatic term for the formal agreement to accept his appointment.
Starmer’s choice of Mandelson as ambassador has been disputed in Trump’s inner circle and the wider Republican party, in part because of his past business links to China.
One senior US source told The Independent that the report Mandelson has been accepted as "hot air" adding: "Why would the senators have passed the dossier to the FBI Monday if he got his agreement last week?"
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Lord Peter Mandelson
PADowning Street has defended Mandelson over the reports about the dossier, with the Prime Minister’s spokesman saying he has declared all his interests as part of the clearance process.
A No10 spokesman said: "On that specific report, the Foreign Office don’t recognise the reports of a dossier. More broadly, there’s obviously an established regime in place for the management of interests held by ambassadors or high commissioners."
The spokesman continued: "This ensures that steps are taken to avoid or mitigate any actual, potential or perceived conflicts of interest, and all candidates are subject to background checks and security clearance.
“Whilst we do not usually comment on individuals, Lord Mandelson has made all relevant declarations as part of this process. And this ensures that steps are taken to avoid or mitigate any potential or perceived conflicts of interest.”
It comes after Foreign Secretary David Lammy spoke with his equivalent in Trump's administration, Secretary of State Marco Rubio.
Rubio, who ran against Trump in the 2016 Republican Primary, spoke to Lammy on a range of issues including the Indo-Pacific, Ukraine and the Middle East.
The Foreign Office said in a statement the two men had discussed their shared links to the Caribbean. The Foreign Secretary has family ties to Guyana and Rubio’s family is linked to Cuba.
“They both welcomed the opportunity for the UK and the US to work together in alignment to address shared challenges, including the situation in the Middle East, Russia’s illegal war in Ukraine, the challenges posed by China and the need for Indo-Pacific security,” the statement said.
US State Department spokeswoman Tammy Bruce said the two men had discussed “a range of pressing global issues”.
“Both leaders expressed eagerness to begin working together immediately to further our many shared foreign policy objectives,” she added.
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