Global Counsel has begun cutting formal ties with Lord Peter Mandelson and is in the final stages of divesting his shareholding in the firm, after the former Labour cabinet minister was removed this week as Britain’s ambassador to the United States following the emergence of previously undisclosed emails, multiple reports said.
Bloomberg, which first reported the exchange of emails, published messages that it said showed Mandelson defending Jeffrey Epstein and urging support for the financier at a time when Epstein was facing criminal charges. The revelations prompted Prime Minister Keir Starmer to dismiss Mandelson on Thursday, saying the newly surfaced messages were "reprehensible," and set off questions about vetting and political judgment across Whitehall and Westminster, according to press accounts.
The Daily Mail reported that colleagues at the advisory firm concluded there was "no way back" for Mandelson and that the decision to sever ties was effectively a sacking by his own company. A source quoted by the Mail said Mandelson had stopped having any operational role in the firm last year and that the process of divesting his holding had been under way for several months. Bloomberg reported that Mandelson declined to comment, and Global Counsel did not comment to reporters.
Mandelson co-founded Global Counsel in 2010 with Benjamin Wegg-Prosser after leaving frontline politics. He resigned as a director in May last year but retained a reported 28 percent stake. The Financial Times has cited a roughly £30 million valuation for the firm, placing Mandelson’s holding at about £8.4 million. Global Counsel’s website lists clients including TikTok and U.S. data firm Palantir, and the firm operates offices across several countries.
Downing Street acknowledged that ministers were aware Mandelson had maintained contact with Epstein after Epstein’s 2008 conviction for soliciting prostitution involving a minor, but said the newly published emails — uncovered in a Bloomberg investigation and sent from a long-disused account — cast the friendship in a "materially different" light. The prime minister’s office said officials had not previously had access to those messages during vetting.
In a letter to staff, Mandelson said the ambassadorship had been "the privilege of my life" and that he felt "utterly awful" about his association with Epstein two decades ago and the plight of Epstein’s victims. He had been appointed by Starmer last year to the high-profile diplomatic post.
The episode has widened into a political controversy. Opposition figures and some Labour MPs criticised the government’s handling of the appointment and its subsequent reversal. The Daily Mail reported that critics have called for an inquiry and the publication of documents relating to Mandelson’s vetting. Tory frontbenchers said officials would likely have warned ministers about reputational risks, and some Labour MPs described the situation as a "shambles." Downing Street rejected reports that the prime minister overruled security advice, but did acknowledge that senior figures in the Foreign Office had previously raised concerns about the appointment, according to media accounts.
The timing of the dismissal adds diplomatic sensitivity: it comes days before a state visit to the United Kingdom by U.S. President Donald Trump. Reports said the White House learned of Mandelson’s removal only after it had happened, a development that could complicate relations given Mandelson’s prior meetings with Trump.
Bloomberg reported that Global Counsel staff told the news service the firm had "never had anything to do with Epstein" and was "appalled" by the revelations. The Daily Mail quoted anonymous sources within the firm saying the decision to divest Mandelson’s stake was effectively complete and not driven solely by the week’s disclosures.
The case has prompted renewed scrutiny of the government’s appointments process, including who in No. 10 and the Foreign Office recommended Mandelson for the ambassadorial role. Reports in the British press have named Morgan McSweeney, the prime minister’s chief of staff, as a proponent of the appointment; Downing Street declined to comment on internal discussions.
Parliamentary calls for inquiries and for the release of vetting documents continued on Friday. The government said it would not speculate on the source of the emails or on ongoing processes, while Mandelson said he accepted the decision and expressed regret for the distress caused by the revelations.
The unfolding developments underline tensions between political appointments, ministerial responsibility and the handling of historical relationships. Global Counsel’s move to distance itself from one of its founders and the government’s swift reversal of a high-profile diplomatic posting are likely to keep scrutiny focused on vetting procedures and decision-making inside government in the weeks ahead.