Peter Mandelson suffers fresh humiliation as his company plunges into | Politics | News
Peter Mandelson co-founded the advisory firm (Image: Getty)
The advisory firm co-founded by Peter Mandelson has collapsed into administration, in the fallout from the scandal surrounding his historical links to paedophile financier Jeffrey Epstein. Global Counsel said it had stopped trading and that UK staff were being made redundant.
Administrators at Interpath have been appointed for the London-based lobbying business, which said it suffered a significant financial impact from a swathe of customers cutting ties with the firm. This left directors with no choice but to bring in administrators, it said. Will Wright, UK chief executive of Interpath and joint administrator, said: “While Global Counsel had grown over the past 15 years to become one of the UK’s leading public affairs consultancies, the rapid and sudden loss of clients over recent weeks has had a monumental impact on the business.”
Keir Starmer talks with the then British ambassador to the US Peter Mandelson (Image: AP)
The Guardian reported that major corporate clients including Barclays, Tesco and the Premier League cut ties with the firm.
Steve Absolom, managing director at Interpath and joint administrator, said: “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.”
The administrators said the sudden withdrawal of clients had severely affected the companyโs cashflow, leaving it unable to continue trading.
In a statement posted on the professional social networking site LinkedIn, Global Counsel confirmed that it had asked a court to appoint Interpath as administrator “to take control of and realise the assets of the company”.
The board said the move followed a review of the options available to the business and warned trading would effectively cease, adding it would “no longer be business as usual”.
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It said that, even if any client work could continue under administrators, it would be “on a limited basis only”, and confirmed the process would lead to a significant number of redundancies once administrators formally take control.
The firm said the company had previously grown into an international advisory business serving major companies and investors, but admitted the situation had been worsened by reputational pressure.
It added: “The continuing maelstrom of political and media attention surrounding Peter Mandelson has made it challenging to continue with the business in its current form.
While todayโs Global Counsel has no connection with Peter Mandelson, his role as a co-founder and his conduct, particularly in its early years, has indelibly coloured the way Global Counsel is seen in the outside world.
Directors said the consultancy had recorded its strongest revenues and profitability as recently as last year and carried very little debt, but that events in recent months had dramatically changed its outlook, leaving them to conclude administration was in the best interests of creditors, staff and clients.
The board thanked employees for their resilience during “very difficult times” and acknowledged shareholders had suffered losses through no fault of their own.
