gotchanewsdaily.com 
“My advice to the U.K. is: Don’t get too hung up on the cosmetic stuff,” Fletcher said. “That’s not easy when you’re in the thick of it — you know, the length of the press conference, the content of the tweet, the day-to-day knock- about stuff.”
But he noted that Mandelson, a figure central to Labour’s last stint in power who will succeed Karen Pierce as ambassador shortly after Trump’s inauguration, is “a supreme political operator [who] has an extraordinary emotional intelligence and an ability to get on with people — and to get things out of people.”
‘Trip in a gold carriage’
Speaking in a personal capacity rather than in his U.N. role, Fletcher, who also counselled Britain’s leaders on how to manage three previous presidential transitions before moving to the U.N. as coordinator for humanitarian affairs, predicted there would be “moments of jeopardy” as the U.K. and the U.S reset their interaction after the Biden years.
“I’d avoid being too needy. I’d avoid being too tactical,” he told the podcast. “There’s a danger that we get too caught up in the immediate things that Donald Trump might want, like a trip in a gold carriage along the [London] Mall and all that sort of thing.”
That said, Britain’s ability to offer the glitzy trappings might also allow it to bank favors with the new president, Fletcher said, oiling “the wheels of diplomacy” with lavish state visits and banquets. “If you have a leader who likes those things more, why not turn them up?”
Labour MPs and London’s diplomatic service are divided, however, on how far Britain should go to accommodate the Trump worldview — on matters ranging from the war in Ukraine, to how to handle tensions over the future role and funding of NATO.
