How to curry favor with the next US president — without annoying Trump

LONDON — Donald Trump is badly bruised after this week’s U.S. midterm elections trouncing — but Britain’s diplomatic corps needs to avoid looking like it’s going all-in on the jubilant Democrats. That’s the advice of Ed Roman, the former director of communications at the British Embassy in Washington.

He spent five years on the embassy’s senior leadership team, serving during the Biden and second Trump administrations. It gave him a front row seat as diplomats adjusted to a radical change in U.S. political direction — a task they now face again.

In his first podcast interview since leaving the civil service a month ago, Roman tells POLITICO’s Westminster Insider that British diplomats need to show they can cultivate sophisticated ties with Trump’s possible successors — without provoking the ire of the current White House incumbent. Here are his top tips. 1) Don’t be late to the party “If you’re doing it now, you’re kind of too late,” Roman says of efforts to schmooze key Democrats who have made it into both the Senate and House this week.