Peter Mandelson is one of those people who glides. It’s as if he’s skating on oil.
He is also one of life’s schmoozers – named “Silver Tongue” by former US President George Bush. As the Champagne and cocktails flowed on a balmy February night in Washington earlier this year I witnessed the charmer-in-chief at his very best. Keir Starmer had just jetted in, with myself and a bunch of other political hacks in tow, to welcome the new British ambassador to the US.
The setting was pure Mandelson – a glitzy party at the palatial ambassador’s luxury residence in the American capital.
Winfield House could have been built for royalty.
King Charles III, then Prince of Wales, and Diana, Princess of Wales stayed at the residence during their 1985 visit to Washington.
Some 40 years later another regal figure – the Prince of Darkness – made his grand entrance.
Grinning alongside the Prime Minister the two men swept into the packed main ballroom with its stately fluted columns.
Sir Keir then jokingly likened Lord Mandelson to Donald Trump – who he met in the White House the following day – as he delivered a colourful and friendly speech about the Labour grandee.
Addressing and audience drawn from the Washington elite, the PM said: “I’ve only just arrived but already I can feel there’s a real buzz around Washington right now.
“You can sense that there’s a new leader. He’s a true one-off, a pioneer in business, in politics.
“Many people love him. Others love to hate him.
“But to us, he’ s just…. Peter.”
Lord Mandelson delivered his silky words before gliding around the room.
It was an extraordinary sight to see. He had both sides of the political divide drooling.
If politics is his jungle then this was his playground.
And it was a far cry from the waspish Mandelson who told me to “eff-off” when I deigned to ask him about Coalition negotiations in the aftermath of the 2010 General Election.
What was clear to see on February 26 of this year was that Sir Keir believed he had the right man for the job.
What he also knew that night was that Lord Mandelson had been close friends with paedophile financier Jeffrey Epstein.
How much the PM knew remains to be seen.
