Global Counsel Lobbying Firm Collapses Into Administration Following Mandelson Scandal
The advisory and lobbying firm Global Counsel, which was founded by former government minister Lord Peter Mandelson, has collapsed into administration following a significant exodus of clients. The London-based company, which employed approximately 130 staff members, appointed administrators from Interpath after a new leadership team decided to effectively shut down operations.
Client Exodus and Leadership Changes
Global Counsel suffered a severe impact as numerous high-profile clients cut ties with the firm in the wake of Lord Mandelson's association with the late financier Jeffrey Epstein. The company had recently severed all connections with Mandelson earlier this month, completing a divestment of his shares to end any formal relationship. However, the damage to its reputation had already been done.
A new leadership team, appointed after the chief executive departed on February 6th and including Marks & Spencer chair Archie Norman, made the decision to call in administrators. This move came amid a continuous loss of business from major corporate clients, including the US investment firm KKR, which withdrew its business following Mandelson's dismissal as US ambassador and expulsion from the Labour Party.
Employee Accounts and Company Statement
An employee of Global Counsel described how staff were informed of the collapse during a company-wide meeting on Thursday afternoon. "Officially, we were told around 1pm today at a company all hands meeting, but I think everyone knew the writing was on the wall as many of the tech and financial big name clients had left," the employee stated.
The employee continued, "So I think naturally people's conclusion was 'who was paying us?'. But I don't think anyone realised the extent of the damage. I think a lot of people thought the junior staff would be cut, but it wasn't apparent until today that everything was going to be shut down."
During the meeting, employees were informed that administrators would arrive the following day, and the office lease would be addressed in coming days. Recruiters were promised to assist staff with next steps, while questions about entitlements were raised. Archie Norman reportedly made a short statement, emphasizing that the collapse was not a reflection on employee work but rather the company being unfairly caught up in external circumstances.
Global Counsel released an official statement on Thursday confirming the administration: "After an exhaustive review of the options available to the company, the Board of Global Counsel has decided to ask the UK courts to appoint Interpath as an administrator to take control of and realise the assets of the company."
The statement continued, "To be clear, this will no longer be business as usual as the administrators-in-waiting have already indicated that, in the unlikely event that any ongoing servicing of clients is viable, this will be on a limited basis only. Inevitably therefore, this will result in a significant number of redundancies being made by the Administrators when they take control of the company tomorrow."
Background and Fallout
Global Counsel was founded in November 2010 and offered lobbying and advisory services to numerous top global firms. Lord Mandelson's appointment as US ambassador by Sir Keir Starmer in late 2024 required him to step back from any day-to-day involvement with the company. The firm had declared earlier this month that the divestment of Mandelson's shares marked "to an end any connection between Global Counsel and Peter Mandelson."
The company statement emphasized, "This means he no longer has any shareholding, role, or association with Global Counsel, and exercises no influence over the company in any capacity." Despite this formal separation, the association proved damaging enough to trigger client departures that ultimately led to the firm's collapse.
Lord Mandelson has since resigned from the House of Lords and is widely expected to lose his peerage in the coming months. The new leadership team at Global Counsel had no association with the company's co-founders, but was unable to salvage the business from the reputational damage caused by the Epstein connection.
The board expressed gratitude in their statement: "The Board wishes to thank: firstly, all our staff who have stood together in very difficult times and shown exceptional resilience in the face of circumstances beyond their control; secondly, our clients, who have been placed in a difficult position by these events and whose generous support has been a tribute to our teams, and; thirdly, our shareholders who have suffered a material loss through no fault of their own."
