Ambassador Lord Peter Mandelson

Ambassador Lord Peter Mandelson

Peter Mandelson was appointed UK Ambassador to the United States of America in December 2024. He started the role on 10 February 2025.

• Peter has held a range of senior positions in government under Prime Minister Tony Blair and later Gordon Brown. He was First Secretary of State and Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills from 2008 to 2010. He was Secretary of State for Business and Trade (1998) and Secretary of State for Northern Ireland (1999 to 2001).
• He was appointed to the House of Lords as a life peer in 2008, from which he has taken a period of indefinite leave.
• Peter was European Commissioner for Trade from 2004 to 2008. He was Member of Parliament for Hartlepool from 1992 to 2004.
• Peter is co-founder of Global Counsel, a global public policy advisory firm.
• From 1985 to 1990, Peter was the Labour Party’s Director of Campaigns and Communications.

British Ambassador to the USA

The Ambassador represents His Majesty The King and the UK government in the country to which they are appointed. They are responsible for the direction and work of the Embassy and its Consulates, including political work, trade and investment, press and cultural relations, and visa and consular services. The British Embassy in Washington is the British sovereign’s diplomatic mission to the United States of America, representing the United Kingdom and the United Kingdom’s interests. It is located at 3100 Massachusetts Avenue NW in Washington, D.C.

British Embassy Washington DC

We deal with a wide range of political, commercial, security and economic questions of interest to the UK and the US. Our consular team in Washington provides consular assistance to British nationals in the District of Columbia, Delaware, Maryland, Virginia and West Virginia.

The ambassador is responsible for the direction and work of the embassy and its consulates. Their tasks are to present UK policies to the American government and to Americans, to report and explain American policies and views to their own government in London, and to support UK interests. They are also responsible for press and cultural relations and for consular services. They are based at the British Embassy in Washington but travels regularly throughout the United States. British consulates champion trade and investment between the UK and US. They also keep the ambassador aware of political, economic and other developments in their consular districts. The consuls are also responsible for providing consular services to British nationals in their consular districts.