Global Counsel: Mandelson’s lobbying firm collapses into administration after Epstein scandal

The advisory firm co-founded by Peter Mandelson has collapsed into administration amid the fallout from the scandal surrounding his ties to paedophile Jeffrey Epstein.

Global Counsel said on Friday that it had stopped trading and that UK staff were being made redundant.

It follows reports that the company had suffered a wave of client departures after further links between Lord Mandelson and the disgraced financier came to light.

This left directors with no choice but to bring in administrators, who have now been appointed for the London-based lobbying business, the company said.

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Will Wright, UK chief executive of Interpath and joint administrator, said: “While Global Counsel had grown over the past 15 years to become one of the UK’s leading public affairs consultancies, the rapid and sudden loss of clients over recent weeks has had a monumental impact on the business.”

Steve Absolom, managing director at Interpath and joint administrator, said: “Our immediate focus is on supporting the talented and loyal UK team of Global Counsel employees who, having collectively built a market-leading business, now sadly find themselves having to be made redundant.”

Lord Mandelson was sacked as the UK’s ambassador to the US last year, and then resigned from the Labour Party and the House of Lords earlier this month when fresh emails surfaced in the latest tranche of the so-called Epstein files in the US.

Among the revelations to emerge were documents from 2009 that appeared to show Lord Mandelson, when he was business secretary, sharing sensitive information with Epstein on at least four occasions.

Police have searched two homes linked to the peer as part of a probe into alleged misconduct in public office, but confirmed no one had been arrested.

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In the wake of the criticism over Lord Mandelson’s appointment, the government has seen several advisors to the PM quit, including chief of staff Morgan McSweeney, communications director Tim Allan and cabinet secretary Sir Chris Wormald.

Global Counsel confirmed earlier in February that the former US ambassador no longer holds a stake in the business nor exerts any influence, and announced the departure of its boss, Benjamin Wegg-Prosser.

It also added that it had reached an agreement to fully divest Lord Mandelson’s shares, thereby ending all connections with him.

Lord Mandelson co-founded the firm with Mr Wegg-Prosser in 2010 after Labour lost the general election and stepped down from its board about two years ago.

Mr Wegg-Prosser was previously a political adviser and director of strategic communications under former prime minister Tony Blair, before going on to work as a director at a Russian media firm.

Global Counsel has worked with a roster of clients including Palantir, GSK, Vodafone, OpenAI, TikTok and the English Premier League.