Lobbying Firm founded by ex-Hartlepool MP on brink of collapse after Epstein fallout...
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Ex Hartlepool Labour MP Peter Mandelson's firm which he originally founded collapses after clients flee in Epstein scandal fallout...
19th Feb 2026
The lobbying and strategic advisory firm originally founded by former Hartlepool MP Peter Mandelson is on the brink of collapse, after a dramatic loss of major corporate clients in the wake of the Jeffrey Epstein scandal.
Global Counsel, which employs about 130 staff across its international offices, is expected to formally appoint administrators after its new leadership concluded the business could no longer continue under the current climate of controversy. Staff were reportedly informed this week during an all-hands meeting that the firm would effectively shut down following weeks in which a succession of blue-chip clients all terminated their contracts at once.
The company had already tried to desperately sever its formal ties with the now disgraced former Hartlepool Labour MP Peter Mandelson, selling his stake and removing any influence he held over the business earlier this month. However, the reputational damage linked to his historic association with the Paedophile Financier Jefferey Epstein proved impossible to contain, with an accelerating exodus of global financial and technology clients taking its toll on the business.
Among the high-profile organisations reportedly said to have withdrawn their business were KKR, Barclays, Tesco, Klarna, Phoenix Group and the Premier League, while other contracts were allowed to run down without renewal. The loss of such heavyweight accounts fatally undermined the firm’s revenue base and attempts to secure fresh investment were said to have failed.
The crisis deepened earlier this month when co-founder Ben Wegg-Prosser stepped down as chief executive in an effort to stabilise the company, with a new leadership team – including Marks & Spencer chairman Archie Norman – brought in to explore rescue options. Those efforts ultimately concluded that administration was unavoidable.
The controversy that engulfed the firm stems from the release of US justice department material showing that Epstein had been consulted during the creation of Global Counsel in 2010 and that business plans were shared with him while he was under house arrest. Mr Mandelson has consistently denied any wrongdoing, but the political and commercial fallout is said to have been 'severe'.
For a company that once marketed itself as one of the world’s most influential political-risk consultancies, advising multinational corporations at the highest levels of government and regulation, the speed of the collapse has been immense. In recent years it had positioned itself at the centre of global corporate strategy, trading heavily on the networks built by its founders at the heart of the New Labour project.
Its most recent filed accounts showed a return to profit in 2024, yet the underlying business model remained heavily dependent on investor confidence and a relatively concentrated group of major clients – a vulnerability exposed by Epstein Scandal which has now already encompassed the UK Royal Family, resulting in the Arrest of Andrew Mountbatten Windsor, & Global Counsel's founder Peter Mandelson under investigation for Misconduct in a public Office following claims he shared confidential information to Mr. Epstein regarding government financial policy at the height of the 2008 financial crisis.
