Peter Mandelson has been slapped down by a government minister after he called on Ukraine to “commit to a ceasefire and defy the Russians to follow”.

The UK’s ambassador to Washington made the comments in an interview on American TV in which he also said Europe and Kyiv should give “unequivocal backing to the initiative President Trump is taking” to broker peace.

Armed forced minister Luke Pollard was asked about Lord Mandelson’s comments on Sky News this morning.

Presenter Wilfred Frost said: “I want to read to you something that Peter Mandselson said yesterday: ‘Europeans too need to back the calls for a ceasefire, and by the way I think that Ukraine should be the first to commit to a ceasefire and defy the Russians to follow’. That is UK government policy now?”

Pollard replied: “No. It’s certainly right that the Ukrainians want peace. I think of all the people on our continent that want peace, the Ukrainians want it the most. But we’re still in diplomatic engagement with our European, US and Ukrainian friends as to the shape of that deal.

“But it’s certainly right that the war could stop tomorrow if President Putin stopped his illegal and unprovoked aggression. What we need to find is a formula that allows a peace to be lasting and durable to be created and then to be defended.”

Frost said: “So Peter Mandelson misspoke yesterday?”

The minister said: “That’s not government policy and you wouldn’t expect me to commentate on every up and down in negotiations.”

Lord Mandelson’s comments about Europe and Ukraine giving “unequivocal backing” to Trump were also slammed by senior politicians.

Lib Dem leader Ed Davey said: “What is Mandelson up to? You cannot square what the prime minister said this morning with this. What is the government’s actual position? Our man in DC should be securing US protection for our brave Ukrainian allies, not telling President Zelenskyy what to do.”

Former Tory foreign secretary James Cleverly said: “The UK ambassador to Washington isn’t meant to communicate his own opinion, he is meant to communicate the UK government opinion. Lammy and Starmer need to grip this.”

Meanwhile, political commentator Dan Hodges said Lord Mandelson “needs to get back in his lane”.