Lord Mandelson, whose tenure as ambassador lasted just a few months, was also asked in the interview about his views on US President Donald Trump’s ongoing comments about his country needing to “own” Greenland.
While saying that he admired Trump’s “directness” in his political dealings, he said he did not believe the US president would “land on Greenland and take it by force”.
He added: “He’s not going to do that. I don’t know, but I’m offering my best judgement as somebody who’s observed him at fairly close quarters. He’s not a fool.”
He said the president had a close circle of advisers around him “reminding him that if he were to intervene, take Greenland, that would be completely counterproductive – and would spell real danger for America’s national interest”.
“We are all going to have to wake up to the reality that the Arctic needs securing against China and Russia. And if you ask me who is going to lead in that effort to secure, we all know, don’t we, that it’s going to be the United States.”
He said he recognised people were sometimes “taken aback by his language and his approach to things” but that Trump felt the world was “full of conflicts, of hard power, of growing rivalry – and particularly between the United States and China, and that sometimes nettles have to be grasped, and that requires deterrence”.
“If you want peace, you get peace through strength, but also sometimes you’ll have to use force as well.
“We’ve got to understand that and not simply react the whole time to the language he uses.”