Peter Mandelson returns as Starmer’s new US ambassador
Sir Keir Starmer is to make his most controversial senior appointment yet by naming Peter Mandelson as UK ambassador to the US.
Lord Mandelson, 71, known as the “Prince of Darkness” from his days as a New Labour‘s spin doctor, will be the prime minister‘s link to Donald Trump.
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The former cabinet minister and Brussels commissioner is a consummate political networker and his appointment will be seen by supporters as a masterstroke.
But he has also been one of the most divisive figures in British politics over many years and his appointment will be seen by Labour left-wingers as an act of cronyism by the PM.
Lord Mandelson had to resign from Tony Blair‘s cabinet twice, first over an undeclared bank loan and then over intervening in a passport application by a top Indian businessman.
A plum job
The Washington role, seen as the most glittering diplomatic post in the UK government, is due to become vacant when current ambassador Karen Pierce steps down early next year.
The perks of the job include the luxurious ambassador’s residence in Massachusetts Avenue, a magnificent Queen Anne mansion designed by top architect Sir Edwin Lutyens.
Lord Mandelson’s appointment is the first political rather than diplomatic appointment to Washington since Peter Jay, former prime minister James Callaghan’s son-in-law, in 1977.
Mandelson alongside Tony Blair and Bill Clinton in Northern Ireland in 2000
Farage among big name backers
Sir Keir is said by insiders to believe he has the trade experience and networking abilities to boost UK interests in the US during the tricky period of a Trump second presidency – with the prospect of tariffs looming.
Crucially, he has become a close ally of Sir Keir’s new chief of staff, Morgan McSweeney, and is backed by Foreign Secretary David Lammy. It is claimed Lord Mandelson was seen in the Foreign Office last week.
And significantly, Reform UK leader Nigel Farage, just back from talks with Trump allies, has said Lord Mandelson is “a very clever man” who can “master his brief” and would be “respected” by the president-elect’s team.
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The cap on a high-profile career
His appointment is not a total surprise. For the past month, he has been seen by Labour insiders as the clear frontrunner on a shortlist of four, also including former foreign secretary David Miliband.
The others were Baroness Ashton, also a former senior Brussels official, and Baroness Amos, a former international development secretary under Mr Blair.
Mr Miliband’s name was touted by Sue Gray, Sir Keir’s now ousted chief of staff, while Baronesses Amos and Ashton, who have strong links to the Democrats, were seen as a good fit if Kamala Harris had won the presidential election.
For Lord Mandelson, the appointment is likely to cap a high-profile political career which began as a TV producer and then Labour’s director of communications under Neil Kinnock in 1985.
Mandelson was a speechwriter for former Labour leader Neil Kinnock
‘A fighter, not a quitter…’
He was seen as a brilliant if ruthless spin doctor, who masterminded the birth of New Labour but would berate newspaper editors when unfavourable stories were written by their political journalists.
He became MP for Hartlepool in 1992 and helped propel Mr Blair to the leadership of the party after John Smith’s death in 1994, a move that led to a bitter feud with Gordon Brown.
Then he got his first cabinet job, trade and industry secretary, in 1998, but was forced to quit months later after failing to declare a home loan from Labour millionaire Geoffrey Robinson to his building society.
He bounced back as Northern Ireland secretary in 1999, but was forced to resign a second time over claims he helped businessman Srichand Hinduja with an application for UK citizenship.
When he held his seat in Hartlepool in the 2001 general election, he made a passionate and defiant victory speech in which he declared: “I’m a fighter, not a quitter.”
Mandelson was MP for Hartlepool from 1992 until 2004
…until he was
Yet three years later he did quit as an MP, when he became a trade commissioner in Brussels, which supporters in his new post claim gave him vital experience in trade talks with president-elect Trump.
But in his most spectacular political comeback until now, in 2008 his old foe Gordon Brown, by now prime minister but facing challenges to his leadership, brought him back as business secretary with a peerage.
A year later Mr Brown awarded him the grand title, previously held by Michael Heseltine under John Major, of first secretary of state, a position he held until Labour’s election defeat in 2010.
Mandelson was brought back into the fold by Gordon Brown ahead of the 2010 election
Blair’s famous quote
But he was very much a Blairite rather than a soulmate of Mr Brown. And in the run-up to Sir Keir’s election victory this year he was back in the fold, offering advice on campaigning and policy.
Acknowledging that Mr Mandelson was a controversial and divisive figure, Mr Blair declared in 1996: “My project will be complete when the Labour Party learns to love Peter Mandelson.”
Clearly the current Labour leadership loves him sufficiently to hand him this plum job, though many on the left of the party will be furious about his appointment.
A US federal judge has agreed to pause a lawsuit filed by 18 state attorneys general and the crypto lobby group DeFi Education Fund against the Securities and Exchange Commission after all parties said new SEC leadership could make the action moot.
Kentucky District Court Judge Gregory Van Tatenhove ordered a 60-day stay on the case on April 16, noting a mid-March filing from the SEC that “this case could potentially be resolved” due to a leadership transition at the regulator.
He added that the parties must file a joint status report within 30 days.
Paul Atkins, a Wall Street adviser who has held board positions with crypto advocacy groups, was sworn in as the new SEC chair earlier this month, replacing acting chair Mark Uyeda and taking over from Gary Gensler.
The 18 attorneys general, all hailing from Republican states, filed the lawsuit with the DeFi Education Fund against the securities regulator in November, alleging that the SEC exceeded its authority when targeting crypto exchanges with lawsuits, accusing the regulator and then-chair Gensler of “gross government overreach.”
The plaintiffs included attorneys general from Nebraska, Tennessee, Wyoming, Kentucky, West Virginia, Iowa, Texas, Mississippi, Ohio, Montana, Indiana, Oklahoma and Florida, among others.
“Without Congressional authorization, the SEC has sought to unilaterally wrest regulatory authority away from the States through an ongoing series of enforcement actions,” the lawsuit stated.
DeFi groups drop case against IRS over killed broker rule
Meanwhile, the DeFi Education Fund, Blockchain Association, and Texas Blockchain Council dropped their lawsuit against the Internal Revenue Service on April 16.
“The parties hereby stipulate to voluntary dismissal of this action without prejudice because the case has become moot,” stated the filing.
The lawsuit, filed in December, argued that the so-called IRS DeFi broker rule went beyond the agency’s authority and was unconstitutional.
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On April 11, President Donald Trump signed a bill to revoke the rule that would have required DeFi protocols to report transactions to the IRS.
It comes as the SEC has paused or dropped several high-profile lawsuits against crypto companies this year under its new leadership.
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Panama’s capital city will accept cryptocurrency payments for taxes and municipal fees, including bus tickets and permits, Panama City mayor Mayer Mizrachi announced on April 15, joining a growing list of jurisdictions globally that have voted to accept such payments.
Panama City will begin accepting Bitcoin (BTC), Ether (ETH), Circle’s USDC (USDC), and Tether’s USDt (USDT) stablecoin for payment once the crypto-to-fiat payment rails are established, Mizrachi posted on the X platform.
Mizrachi said previous administrations attempted to push through similar legislation but failed to overcome stipulations requiring the local government to accept funds denominated in US dollars.
In a translated statement, the Panama City mayor said that the local government partnered with a bank that will immediately convert any digital assets received into US dollars, allowing the municipality to accept crypto without introducing new legislation.
Panama City joins a growing list of global jurisdictions on the municipal and state level accepting cryptocurrency payments for taxes, exploring Bitcoin strategic reserves to protect public treasuries from inflation and passing pro-crypto policies to attract investment.
Related: New York bill proposes legalizing Bitcoin, crypto for state payments
Municipalities and states embrace digital assets
Several municipalities and territories around the globe already accept crypto for tax payments or are exploring various implementations of blockchain technology for government spending.
The US state of Colorado started accepting crypto payments for taxes in September 2022. Much like Panama City said it will do, Colorado immediately converts the crypto to fiat.
In December 2023, the city of Lugano, Switzerland, announced taxes and city fees could be paid in Bitcoin, which was one of the developments that earned it the reputation of being a globally recognized Bitcoin city.
The city council of Vancouver, Canada, passed a motion to become “Bitcoin-friendly city” in December 2024. As part of that motion, the Vancouver local government will explore integrating BTC into the financial system, including tax payments.
North Carolina lawmaker Neal Jackson introduced legislation titled “The North Carolina Digital Asset Freedom Act” on April 10. If passed, the bill will recognize cryptocurrencies as an official form of payment that can be used to pay taxes.
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As digital assets gain mainstream adoption, establishing a legal framework for stablecoins is a “good idea,” said US Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell.
In an April 16 panel at the Economic Club of Chicago, Powell commented on the evolution of the cryptocurrency industry, which has delivered a consumer use case that “could have wide appeal” following a difficult “wave of failures and frauds,” he said.
Powell delivers remarks at the Economic Club of Chicago. Source: Bloomberg Television
During crypto’s difficult years, which culminated in 2022 and 2023 with several high-profile business failures, the Fed “worked with Congress to try to get a […] legal framework for stablecoins, which would have been a nice place to start,” said Powell. “We were not successful.”
“I think that the climate is changing and you’re moving into more mainstreaming of that whole sector, so Congress is again looking […] at a legal framework for stablecoins,” he said.
“Depending on what’s in it, that’s a good idea. We need that. There isn’t one now,” said Powell.
This isn’t the first time Powell acknowledged the need for stablecoin legislation. In June 2023, the Fed boss told the House Financial Services Committee that stablecoins were “a form of money” that requires “robust” federal oversight.
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Support for stablecoin legislation is growing
The election of US President Donald Trump has ushered in a new era of pro-crypto appointments and policy shifts that could make America a digital asset superpower.
Washington’s formal embrace of cryptocurrency began earlier this year when Trump established the President’s Council of Advisers on Digital Assets, with Bo Hines as the executive director.
Hines told a digital asset summit in New York last month that a comprehensive stablecoin bill was a top priority for the current administration. After the Senate Banking Committee passed the GENIUS Act, a final stablecoin bill could arrive at the president’s desk “in the next two months,” said Hines.
Bo Hines (right) speaks of “imminent” stablecoin legislation at the Digital Asset Summit on March 18. Source: Cointelegraph
Stablecoins pegged to the US dollar are by far the most popular tokens used for remittances and cryptocurrency trading.
The combined value of all stablecoins is currently $227 billion, according to RWA.xyz. The dollar-pegged USDC (USDC) and USDt (USDT) account for more than 88% of the total market.
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