Lobbying firm co-founded by Peter Mandelson set to enter administration
The appointment of administrators at Global Counsel could come as soon as Friday.
The lobbying firm co-founded by Peter Mandelson is set to go into administration after being caught up in the fallout from the scandal surrounding his links to paedophile financier Jeffrey Epstein.
Global Counsel, a London-based advisory business with more than 100 employees, has informed staff it is facing collapse, the Press Association understands.
The appointment of administrators could come as soon as Friday, as first reported by the Financial Times.
The impact of Lord Mandelson’s historic ties to Epstein, more details of which have been unearthed over recent weeks, is said to be behind a number of high-profile customers choosing to end their relationship with the firm.
It is reported that Barclays, Tesco and Klarna were among those to end contracts, while Vodafone put its one under review, after the so-called Epstein files were released by US authorities.
Earlier this month, Global Counsel said it had cut ties with Lord Mandelson and announced the departure of its boss Benjamin Wegg-Prosser.
It stressed that Lord Mandelson no longer had any shareholding, role or association with the company and no influence over the firm.
Nevertheless, it is understood that the business continued to come under pressure from his legacy.
Lord Mandelson co-founded the firm with Mr Wegg-Prosser in 2010 after Labour lost the general election.
He 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.
The company grew its revenues by a third in 2024 after winning new clients and cashing in on demand for advice during a period of heightened geopolitical uncertainty.
It made a pre-tax profit of around £670,000 for the year, according to its most recently-published accounts.
The latest tranche of documents in the Epstein files appear to show Lord Mandelson passing potentially market-sensitive information to the financier in 2009, while he was business secretary in Gordon Brown’s government.
The London and Wiltshire homes of the former politician and US ambassador have been searched by officers as part of the Metropolitan Police’s probe into alleged misconduct in public office.
Sir Keir Starmer faced a period of political turmoil as a result of the controversies.
He insisted that “none of us knew the depth of the darkness” of Lord Mandelson’s relationship with Epstein, and apologised for believing his “lies”.
