Peter Mandelson has unveiled a clear and daring strategy with one central objective: to make the United Kingdom “too important to ignore.” His recent speech, featuring surprising praise for Donald Trump, was a blueprint for how a post-Brexit Britain can not only survive but thrive by binding its future inextricably to that of the United States.
The primary instrument for this strategy is a proposed, deep-seated technology alliance. Mandelson’s plan is to position the UK as such an indispensable partner in America’s tech ecosystem that its strategic value becomes unquestionable. This partnership is designed to be the main source of Britain’s future geopolitical clout, ensuring it always has a seat at the world’s top table.
Achieving this requires a new level of political flexibility, which Mandelson readily displayed. His embrace of Trump and his championing of Brexit’s “freedoms” are pragmatic maneuvers aimed at wooing Washington. He is signaling that the UK can be the fast-moving, reliable, and ideologically aligned ally the US wants, in stark contrast to the slower, more critical European Union.
In short, Mandelson’s address was a bold rejection of the narrative of British decline. It presented an ambitious vision of a nimble “Global Britain” that punches above its weight by forging this unique and unbreakable bond with the United States. Everything else, he implied, including past political loyalties, must be subordinated to this core mission of ensuring the UK’s indispensability.