Mandelson lobbied hard for advisory firm after Labour victory, papers show | Peter Mandelson

Newly released documents reveal that Peter Mandelson, then chairman of consultancy Global Counsel, lobbied hard for ministers to attend his events and meet with staff at the firm in the months following Labour’s general election victory.

Emails and WhatsApp exchanges show how active his Labor colleague was in the post-election period to turn his connections within the government to the potential advantage of both his company and his campaign to become chancellor of Oxford University.

Just days after the 2024 general election, Labour’s Mandelson sent a WhatsApp message to Treasury Financial Secretary Spencer Livermore, asking him to have lunch.

Lord Livermore, former director of political strategy at Downing Street under Gordon Brown, accepted the offer. Mandelson suggested meeting be held “away from HMT” [the Treasury]The exchange suggests that a Global Counsel employee will also be invited.

A few days later, Mandelson also emailed the new science minister, Patrick Vallance, apparently after seeing him the previous evening.

In an email from his Global Advisor address titled “Economic change,” Mandelson offered Vallance a series of thoughts on his time as minister.

Two months later, Mandelson sent Vallance another email inviting him to attend a panel event on research and innovation he planned to hold in Oxford in late October or early November.

Mandelson was a candidate for Chancellor of Oxford at the time, but told Vallance that this was not “a campaign event per se” but “will be an attempt to stimulate interest in the issue”.

Vallance replied: “Can we do this after the new chancellor is elected so that he is not seen as part of the process?”

Mandelson also emailed Douglas Alexander, the new trade minister in Tony Blair’s government, on July 22, introducing him to a Global Advisor employee. According to a WhatsApp recording, this happened after Mandelson and Alexander met the previous day.

“Since Douglas will now attempt to take trade policy to the top on behalf of our great nation, I really think you two should meet and talk ASAP,” Mandelson emailed.

Alexander replied: “Peter, thank you for the introduction”. In a direct message to an unnamed Global Counsel employee, he added that he would “also email you to find a suitable location.”

A WhatsApp exchange confirmed that the meeting had taken place. “To see [redacted] “For a proper tutorial this afternoon,” Alexander wrote. “Thanks for the introduction.”

Mandelson pursued: “Have you talked to him? [redacted] Ok?”

Alexander replied: “Yes, thank you. Wednesday afternoon. It was the most enlightening conversation I’ve had about trading in the last month so I understand why you have so much respect. Thanks so much again for the input”.

“Good,” Mandelson replied. “I’d be happy to help further.”

Mandelson also emailed a lecture on “High investment economics” to Alexander in October 2024.

In September that year, Mandelson also emailed Sarah Jones, an industry minister, from his Global Advisor account, asking her to confirm that he could attend a roundtable to discuss the government’s “clean energy mission.”

“I am eager to bring together an interesting and lively group of people to discuss this opportunity and challenge,” Mandelson wrote. The minister did not immediately respond.

A Global Advisor “senior partner” sent four emails hounding the minister, variously writing that “Lord Mandelson had asked me to follow up” and asking if he “had time to consider the invitation.”

The files are part of a large tranche of data that MPs voted to release in February, including texts sent to ministers and senior officials about Mandelson’s appointment as US ambassador.

Members of the House of Lords may have financial interests in organizations that carry out parliamentary lobbying activities on behalf of their clients, but are prohibited from “providing parliamentary advice or services, directly or indirectly, to their clients”.

Global Counsel, whose clients include TikTok, Palantir and energy and mining companies Shell and Anglo American, was founded in 2010 by Mandelson and his former deputy, Benjamin Wegg-Prosser.

Mandelson resigned as a director of Global Counsel in May 2024 but remained chairman until January 2025, when he took up a brief stint as Britain’s ambassador to Washington.

The company went into administration in February following revelations about Mandelson’s friendship with disgraced financier Jeffrey Epstein.