This appears to be an exceedingly poor choice for a senior position in the Foreign Office.
He was happy to go into battle against the neo-cons on behalf of the UN. "I have spent all my life trying to build multi-national coalitions. For me, everything I had worked for and fought for was suddenly under attack from one corner of the American political system and if they wanted to go toe to toe on it, I was going to do it."He believes he has always been in tune with mainstream America. "From Colin Powell to Condi Rice all the way through to Richard Holbrooke or Madeleine Albright, across that massive swath of American foreign policy, I would bet you a drink that you would find that I am their favourite multi-nationalist Brit.
[...]
"When last year there was an attempt to put together a new partnership for Iraq, I was the one who was called. Condi Rice came to Kofi Annan and said, 'the only person we want to run this is Malloch Brown. It is too serious to have anyone else do it' ."
[...]
He opposes the use of the phrase War on Terror. "At the UN we have always been a bit cautious of these broad-brush labels because they have a self fulfilling quality. We prefer more forensic rhetoric."
He is also sceptical about describing the new wave of terrorism as being committed by Muslims.
Mark, those folks, delightful and intelligent cocktail-party company though they may be to you, are not necessarily the same thing as "mainstream America". The average American probably has no idea whom you are, would not even recognize the name. And a good number of those who do undoubtedly think of you as "oh, that a**hole."