Lobbying firm co-founded by Mandelson goes into administration

Global Counsel, the lobbying firm co-founded by Peter Mandelson, has gone into administration.

It comes after leading clients cut ties with the company after details emerged of Lord Mandelson's apparent links with the convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein.

This had a "monumental impact on the business" and left its directors with "no option", administrator Interpath said in a statement on Friday.

A senior source said the company's collapse was a "total nightmare and unfair", adding it risked the loss of 120 jobs.

Global Counsel had warned on Thursday there would be "a significant number of redundancies being made by the administrators when they take control of the company".

The lobbying firm was set up by Lord Mandelson and Benjamin Wegg-Prosser after Labour lost the 2010 general election.

It advised high-profile clients such as Shell, TikTok and Barclays and has offices in Berlin, Brussels, Singapore, Washington DC and Doha.

Lord Mandelson resigned from the board of Global Counsel in 2024, though he remained a shareholder until earlier this month. His co-founder, Wegg-Prosser, stepped down as chief executive on 6 February.

The files also contained mentions of a meeting between Wegg-Prosser and Epstein in 2010, two years after the latter's conviction for soliciting prostitution and soliciting a minor.

Epstein died in New York in 2019, while awaiting trial on sex trafficking charges.

Will Wright, UK chief executive of Interpath, said: "The rapid and sudden loss of clients over recent weeks has had a monumental impact on the business".

It has ceased trading while administrators "undertake a detailed review of the company's assets and liabilities and explore the best route", he added.

Steve Absolom, managing director at Interpath: "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."

Nick Stockley, partner at law firm Mayo Wynne Baxter says any new business connected with Global Counsel will find it "very difficult to shake off the Mandelson stigma".

He said: "The main asset for sale will be the customer book but that customer book has quickly diminished."

He added: "The administrator's role will, most likely, be to manage a full shut down of the business and recover what it can.

"Creditors, such as suppliers, landlords and sub-contract consultants will not be paid in full and it seems that all the staff will be made redundant."