‘Nobody has spoken to me’ about US ambassador job, says Mandelson

Get the free Morning Headlines email for news from our reporters across the world Sign up to our free Morning Headlines email Sign up to our free Morning Headlines email SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy policy Lord Peter Mandelson said “nobody has spoken to me” about the job of Britain’s ambassador to the US. Speaking on the BBC’s Sunday With Laura Kuenssberg programme, Lord Mandelson said he was “more in favour of a new relationship rather than a special one” with the US, and added: “Can I just make the point if you don’t mind: nobody has spoken to me about this job. “I read about it in the papers but nobody has actually spoken to me about it, so let’s put it to one side.” Pushed further on whether he would be interested in the Washington role, the former government minister said: “I would be very interested indeed in giving advice about trade to whoever is appointed.” The former Hartlepool MP is among the final five candidates to become the next chancellor of Oxford, alongside former Conservative leader Lord William Hague; former attorney general Dominic Grieve; Lady Eilish Angiolini, who is a pro-vice chancellor at the university; and Baroness Jan Royall, previously leader of the opposition in the House of Lords. “I’m actually concentrating on and focused on something else,” Lord Mandelson, who was one of the key architects of Labour’s 1997 election success, said when asked about the ambassadorship.