Trump picks Apprentice producer to be special envoy to UK
Donald Trump has named the producer behind The Apprentice as his special envoy to the UK.
The president-elect said Mark Burnett would bring “a unique blend of diplomatic acumen and international recognition” to the role.
British producer Mr Burnett helped build Mr Trump’s profile, but distanced himself from the tycoon during the 2016 presidential contest.
Honour
Announcing the envoy role, Mr Trump said: “It is my great honour to appoint Mark Burnett as the special envoy to the United Kingdom.
“With a distinguished career in television production and business, Mark brings a unique blend of diplomatic acumen and international recognition to this important role.
“Mark is known for creating and producing some of the biggest shows in television history, including Survivor, Shark Tank, The Voice and, most notably, The Apprentice. He is the former chairman of MGM, and has won 13 Emmy Awards.
“Mark will work to enhance diplomatic relations, focusing on areas of mutual interest, including trade, investment opportunities, and cultural exchanges.”
In October 2016, Mr Burnett and his wife, actress Roma Downey, distanced themselves from Mr Trump, criticising the “hatred, division and misogyny that has been a very unfortunate part of his campaign”.
Mr Trump has already nominated businessman Warren Stephens to serve as the US ambassador to the UK.
On Friday, Sir Keir Starmer confirmed that Lord Peter Mandelson had been chosen as the UK’s ambassador in Washington.
‘Racist’
The former Cabinet minister and European Union trade tsar said “it is a great honour to serve the country in this way”.
However, the Labour grandee’s past remarks about Mr Trump – who he once described as “little short of a white nationalist and racist” – may yet plague attempts to foster close US-UK relations.
Chris LaCivita, a senior adviser to Mr Trump’s 2024 election campaign described Lord Mandelson as an “absolute moron”.
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Ha ha ha ha ha ha! It is a circus coming to town, first Stephens, now this clown. Wonder what tapes Burnett has locked away.
President Musk is sure having a larf
This is the kind of thing we can ‘look forward’ to if we allow Farage and his TV ‘experts’ from GBeebies to take over life here as we know (knew) it. We are in the fortunate position of having time to see what unfolds under Trump and be presented with a vision of what it is we must reject.
Yep. All of his picks are people that have kissed the ring and bought into the brand, all unqualified and some massive reversal’s in stance on the orange one (“back me or I break you….”??). On top of that is a techbromance that is destined to fail biggly time and I await the “Musk? Never met the guy” from the orange one. Like he did with Project 2025 peeps then put them in power. That is Farage’s business model for power methinks. On the back of all this we have the likes of Farage and Tice, saying non UK people… Read more »