LONDON (AP) — Veteran U.K. Labour Party politician Peter Mandelson will be Britain's next ambassador to Washington, people familiar with the decision said Thursday.
Mandelson, who served in senior posts in the governments of former prime ministers Tony Blair and Gordon Brown, is expected to take up his job early next year. The announcement is expected to be made on Friday.
The current ambassador, Karen Pierce, is likely to remain in her post until after President-elect Donald Trump's inauguration on Jan. 20.
The news of Mandelson's appointment was first reported by The Times of London newspaper. It was confirmed by two people familiar with the decision, who spoke on condition of anonymity because it has not been formally announced.
Mandelson, 71, has been considered a front-runner for the job, considered Britain's most important diplomatic post - even more so with the protectionist Trump returning to office.
Mandelson was one of the key architects of Labour's 1997 return to power under Blair after 18 years in opposition. He served in Blair's government from 1997 to 2001 and as business secretary under Brown from 2008 to 2010, and in between was the European Commissioner for trade.
His trade expertise is likely to prove vital in dealing with the Trump administration, which has threatened to impose tariffs on almost all imported goods.
Prime Minister Keir Starmer said Thursday that "we have to make sure that we avoid tariffs” with the United States.
Mandelson is also renowned as a skilled — and, to critics, ruthless — political operator. It is rare for politicians to be appointed as U.K. ambassadors — the jobs usually go to career diplomats.
Mandelson told the BBC last month that he would be “very interested” in giving advice on trade to whoever got the Washington job.
FILE - Peter Mandelson, British Labour politician, arrives at a memorial service for former leader of the Liberal Democrats Lord Paddy Ashdown at Westminster Abbey in London, Sept. 10, 2019. (AP Photo/Kirsty Wigglesworth, File)
On Dec. 26, 2004, a 9.1 magnitude earthquake struck off the west coast of Sumatra, causing a massive wave that devastated Asian coastal communities across thousands of miles.
Some 230,000 people died as the tsunami leveled remote villages, ports and tourist resorts in Indonesia, Thailand, India and Sri Lanka, among other countries.
Ahead of the 20th anniversary of a disaster that's still vividly remembered in the region, here's a look back at the aftermath. In these photos, a resident of a fishing village in India's Tamil Nadu state contemplates the remains of her house as fires continue to burn in her village. In Thailand, dozens of bodies are lined up at a Buddhist temple, and a young Swedish boy carries a sign listing family members he hasn't seen since they were swept out to sea from their beachfront hotel.
In Sri Lanka, villagers search for the dead among derailed train cars, lighting fires to cremate those they find. And in Aceh, Indonesia, the worst-hit area nearest the quake's epicenter, people search for survivors and food in towns that have been largely reduced to rubble.
Today, many coastal communities have rebuilt, and new early warning systems are in place that could give people time to get to shelter. But the true toll of these events will never be known for certain.
A doll is erected on pole by a family in memory of their child who was killed by the Dec. 26, 2004 tsunami, as a survivor works, background, at Cheddi Palayan, about 230 kilometers (144 miles) east of Colombo, Sri Lanka, Monday, Jan. 31, 2005. (AP Photo/Rafiq Maqbool, File)
Relatives of victims who were killed by Tsunami waves grieve at the site of a mass burial in Cuddalore, India, Monday, Dec. 27, 2004. (AP Photo/Gurinder San, File)
Jakfar, 41, looks at the destruction from the second floor of his house in Keudah village in the provincial capital of Banda Aceh, Aceh province, Indonesia, Monday, Feb. 7, 2005. (AP Photo/Dita Alangkara, File)
Hernani, center, weeps holding a relative after the bodies of her daughters, victims of the 2004 tsunami, were found in Lampulo, Aceh, Indonesia, Tuesday, Feb. 1, 2005. (AP Photo/Firdia Lisnawati, File)
People who lost family members to the deadly tsunami, try to identify them from photos taken before their mass burial and later posted on boards to help families identify their dead, at Vailankanni, near Nagapattinam, India, Saturday Jan. 8, 2005. (AP Photo/Gautam Singh, File)
An elephant which belongs to forest ministry removes debris Monday Jan. 10, 2005 in Banda Aceh, Indonesia. (AP Photo/Eugene Hoshiko, File)
A young Tamil boy stops crying after receiving lunch from local aid workers at a makeshift refugee camp, Tuesday, Jan. 4, 2005, in the village of Palai, just outside of Kilinochchi in north eastern Sri Lanka. (AP Photo/Wally Santana, File)
Islets are formed of what used to be part of Banda Aceh, the capital of Aceh province in northwest of Indonesia, as seen from a commercial plane on Thursday Dec. 30, 2004 following Sunday's earthquake-triggered tsunami. (AP Photo/Eugene Hoshiko, File)
HOLD- An Acehnese man smokes a cigarette near a house on which a fishing boat landed after it was swept away by tsunami in Banda Aceh, Aceh province, Indonesia, Thursday, Feb. 17, 2005. (AP Photo/Dita Alangkara, File)
Destroyed houses are seen in this aerial view of the town of Meulaboh in Aceh province, Indonesia, which was flattened by tidal waves, on Saturday, Jan. 1, 2005. (AP Photo/Dudi Anung, File)
An unidentified woman cries after tidal waves destroyed her house on the coastal areas in Colombo, Sri Lanka, Sunday, Dec. 26, 2004. (AP Photo/Eranga Jayawardena, File)
A street is littered with damaged vehicles and debris after the area was hit by tidal waves at Patong beach in Phuket, Thailand, Sunday December 26, 2004. (AP Photo/Karim Khamzin, File)
The Rahmatullah Lampuuk Mosque stands intact after the 2004 tsunami hit the area in Lhoknga, near Banda Aceh, Indonesia, Jan. 30, 2005. (AP Photo/Greg Baker, File)
A survivor rummages through the debris at the commercial area of Banda Aceh, the capital of Aceh province in northwest Indonesia, Dec. 31, 2004.(AP Photo/Bullit Marquez, File)
Refugee children try to catch relief goods tossed from an Australian military helicopter in a rice paddy in Lampaya, outskirts of Banda Aceh, Indonesia, Jan. 17, 2005. (AP Photo/Eugene Hoshiko, File)
Villagers walk with their belongings past two boats that were washed ashore by tidal waves at Nagappattinam, in the southern Indian state of Tamil Nadu, Dec. 28, 2004. (AP Photo/Gautam Singh, File)
Sitting on a boat, a woman watches debris of destroyed homes being burned at the fishermen's village in Nagappattinam, in the southern Indian state of Tamil Nadu, Monday Jan. 3, 2005. (AP Photo/Saurabh Das, File)
A young tsunami victim's father cries along with other family members as he holds the body of his son at the hospital in Galle, Sri Lanka, Dec. 27, 2004. (AP Photo/Vincent Thian, File)
Kusol Wetchakul offers prayers for the soul of his sister Wednesday, Dec. 29, 2004, at dawn along the beach near Khao Lak, Thailand. Wetchakul's sister was swept out to sea and believed drowned as she sold goods to tourists on the popular tourist beach just north of Phuket. (AP Photo/David Longstreath, File)
Survivors retrieve a cart from the rubble of the devastated commercial district of Banda Aceh, the capital of Aceh, Friday, Dec. 31, 2004. (AP Photo/Bullit Marquez, File)
Tsunami victims wait for a airplane to be evacuated from Nicobar, in India's southeastern Andaman and Nicobar Islands, Wednesday, Dec. 29, 2004. (AP Photo/Manish Swarup, File)
HOLD- Rani Amma, 50, grieves for her family who died in the Dec. 26 tsunami, as she sits near a small temple she made at the spot where her home once stood, at Nagappattinam, in the southern Indian state of Tamil Nadu, Wednesday, Jan. 12, 2005. Amma lost seven family members which include four granddaughters, one son, one daughter and one son-in-law. (AP Photo/Gautam Singh)
A boat passes by a damaged hotel, at Ton Sai Bay on Phi Phi Island, in Thailand, Dec. 28, 2004. (AP Photo/Suzanne Plunkett, File)
Twin girls hold towels to their faces to fend off the smell of decomposing bodies lying on streets in Hambantota, southern Sri Lanka Thursday Dec. 30, 2004. (AP Photo/Elizabeth Dalziel, File)
Buddhist Monks from the Asoke community of Bangkok, walk past damaged fishing boats in the tsunami destroyed village of Ban Nam Khem, Thailand, Wednesday, Jan. 19, 2005. (AP Photo/David Longstreath, File)
Tsunami victims at a relief camp reach for rice packets being distributed in Nagappattinam, in the southern Indian state of Tamil Nadu, Friday, Dec. 31, 2004. (AP Photo/Gurinder Osan, File)
A family makes its way back home accross strewn debris at Nagappattinam, in the Southern Indian state of Tamil Nadu, Friday Dec. 31, 2004. (AP Photo/Saurabh Das, File)
Karl Nilsson of Lulo, Sweden, poses with a sign saying his parents and brothers are missing, in this Dec. 28, 2004, in Phuket, Thailand. The young boys parents were swept out to sea Sunday, Dec. 26, 2004, when the tsunami struck their beach hotel just north of Phuket, Thailand. (AP Photo/David Longstreath/FILE)
Workers, searching for bodies remaining unburied in Mullaitivu following Sunday's tsunami which completely destroyed the village, walk away from a fire which they started to burn the bodies of two victims Friday, Dec. 31, 2004. (AP Photo/Ed Wray, File)
An aerial view of Phi Phi island in Krabi province, southern Thailand Friday, Dec. 31, 2004. (AP Photo/Apichart Weerawong, File)
An Acehnese woman clings to floating debris while being swept by a tsunami Sunday, Dec. 26, 2004 in Banda Aceh, the capital of Aceh province in northwest Indonesia. A man tried to rescue her but both victims were swept by the current and died as witnessed by the photographer. (AP Photo/Frans Dellian, File)
An aerial shot taken from a helicopter shows villagers search for the missing along railroad tracks of a packed train that was swept off the tracks by waves at Telwatte, about 100 kilometers (63 miles) south of Colombo, Sri Lanka, Dec. 29, 2004. (AP Photo/Vincent Thian, File)
Thais walk outside a Buddhist temple where more than 1,000 bodies have been gathered, near Takuapa, Thailand, Thursday, Dec. 30, 2004. (AP Photo/David Longstreath, File)
Paliyamma grieves on returning to her damaged house at a fishermen's colony hit by tsunami, in Nagappattinam, in the southern Indian state of Tamil Nadu, Friday, Dec. 31, 2004. Paliyamma lost seven members of her family. (AP Photo/Gurinder Osan, File)
