Letter - Seeking the King's Informal Approval for Lord Mandelson's Appointment as HM Ambassador to Washington [2024-12-18]
Dublin Core
Title
Subject
Description
Creator
Source
Date
Contributor
Letter Item Type Metadata
Transcript
Foreign, Commonwealth
& Development Office
Sir Philip Barton KCMG OBE
Permanent Under-Secretary of State
King Charles Street
London
SW1A 2AH
Tel: [redacted]
Email: [redacted]
Sir Clive Alderton
Private Secretary to His Majesty The King
Buckingham Palace
[by email: ]
18 December 2024
Dear Sir Clive,
POLITICAL APPOINTMENT AS HM AMBASSADOR TO WASHINGTON
The Prime Minister has indicated his intention to recommend, during this Parliament, a small number of political appointments to serve as His Majesty’s Ambassadors overseas.
The Prime Minister now proposed such an appointment. I have discussed this with the Foreign Secretary, who agrees with the recommendation. Political appointees are rare in the British system but, in keeping with those appointed from within the Diplomatic or Civil Service, His Majesty’s approval is required. May I request that you seek The King’s approval for Lord Peter Mandelson as HM Ambassador to Washington?
Lord Mandelson would succeed Dame Karen Pierce in early 2025. I enclose a Curriculum Vitae for him.
Philip Barton
The Rt Hon Lord Mandelson is a member of the House of Lords and is a former UK Cabinet minister and First Secretary of State and Lord President of the King's Privy Council serving under prime ministers Tony Blair and Gordon Brown between 1997-2010.
He was successively Trade and Industry secretary, Northern Ireland secretary, implementing the Belfast Good Friday Agreement 1999-200, and Business, Innovation and Science secretary.
He was the UK member of the European Commission serving as the EU's chief external trade negotiator 2004-2008, negotiating trade agreements with countries on every continent and led European negotiations in the WTO Doha World Trade Round.
He was Member of Parliament for Hartlepool in the UK from 1992 until 2004 and Director of Campaigns and Communications for the Labour Party between 1985 and 1990 and directed Tony Blair's election campaign in 1997.
After leaving government in 2010, he co-founded Global Counsel, a public policy advisory business located in London, Brussels, Washington DC, Singapore and Doha. He is a member of the international advisory board of the BlueVoyant cyber security firm headquartered in Maryland.
Lord Mandelson is a Governor and Member of the Council of Management of the UK-US Ditchley Foundation. He has been a member of the British American Project since 1988 which promotes the global leadership roles of the US and the UK.
He was Chairman of the Design Museum in London 2017-23 and has been Chancellor of Manchester Metropolitan University 2016-24. He is a board member of the University of Oxford's Ertegun Graduate Scholarship Programme in the Humanities.
He writes occasionally for The Times and is co-host of the weekly Times radio podcast called How to win an election.
In 2010, Harper Collins published his autobiography The Third Man.
Signatures
Recipient(s)
Ornamentation
Letter is printed in a san-serif font (perhaps Arial). The CV is in Times New Roman.
Special Features
The submission of a CV is noteworthy. While it has become the norm under King Charles III, this was not the case during Queen Elizabeth II's reign.
Files
