This actually shows how toxic Donald Trump is. Everything he is associated with, is, or turns rotten. The appointment was made entirely because of him being in the White House.
I personally think Starmer had to try with Trump, and the current direction of travel with Trump, whilst highly predictable, was not inevitable. And the appointment of Mandleson made some sense at the time, even though I was personally outraged at some of the comments Mandleson made at the time.
However, it’s a gamble that has failed and there are consequences to that.