Global Counsel to be placed into administration February 19, 2026 Global Counsel’s 130 staff have been informed that the lobbying company founded by Peter Mandelson will be placed into administration as soon as tomorrow. City AM understands that despite a number of clients deciding to stay with the firm, the loss of business following the former US ambassador’s fall from grace has been substantial. A [...]
Jefferies: Starmer unlikely to be in office by July February 17, 2026 Sir Keir Starmer is likely to be ousted from office before the end of July, according to a top investment bank which warned that irrespective of whether there’s a change in leadership the Labour party is likely to lurch leftwards on economic policy. Analysts at Jefferies said the Prime Minister had been left vulnerable by [...]
Starmer only cares about victims ‘to save his skin’, Badenoch blasts February 11, 2026 Sir Keir Starmer faced a brutal grilling at Prime Minister’s Questions on Monday where Kemi Badenoch accused the Prime Minister of only caring about victims of sexual abuse “to save his skin”. In a fiery exchange that was highly party-political but light on policy, the Labour leader said he had “accepted responsibility and apologised for [...]
Global Counsel loses more clients as Epstein scandal deepens February 11, 2026 The crisis engulfing the lobbying firm founded by Peter Mandelson, Global Counsel, deepened on Tuesday, after three more of its blue-chip clients parted ways with the advisory over its links to co-founder Mandelson and the convicted sex trafficker Jeffrey Epstein. City AM understands that pensions giant Phoenix, Tesco and Bank of America have all severed [...]
Starm before the storm? PM survives the day but crisis still looms. February 10, 2026 Sir Keir Starmer has insisted he is “getting on with the job” following a punishing 24 hours in which he lost his Chief of Staff, his Director of Communications and the support of Labour’s leader in Scotland as the fallout from the Peter Mandelson scandal threatens to collapse the government. As leadership speculation continued to [...]
Mandelson scandal proves it’s time to rewrite lobbying rules February 10, 2026 Peter Mandelson, the Prince of Darkness, operated in the shadows. Only improved transparency around lobbying can prevent the next scandal, says Alastair McCarpra Pete Brown’s book Clubland, on the history of Britain’s working men’s clubs, includes an account of early lobbying in Westminster. Faced with the potentially damaging 1902 Licensing Act, the Club & Institute Union [...]
Brace yourself for the chaos that will follow Starmer’s departure February 10, 2026 Anas Sarwar is not a name often seen in the pages of City AM but he’s earned his place after yesterday’s hastily announced press conference in which he called for Keir Starmer to resign as Prime Minister. Prior to his intervention there had been radio silence from Starmer’s Cabinet ministers, not one of whom had [...]
Mandelson’s Global Counsel has been rocked by its links to Epstein. Will it survive? February 10, 2026 Global Counsel – the lobbying shop co-founded by Peter Mandelson – was once a swashbuckling force in London’s world-leading public affairs sector. But after the extent of its links to Jeffrey Epstein were revealed by the US Department of Justice email release, clients have been severing ties and its chief executive has quit. Ali Lyon [...]
Lobbying chief urges firms not to work with unregistered agencies February 10, 2026 The boss of the lobbying sector’s industry body has urged public affairs chiefs to stop working with agencies that have not signed up to its code of conduct, after several blue-chip companies were forced to sever ties with Peter Mandelson’s lobby firm, Global Counsel. In a draft letter seen by City AM, PRCA chief Sarah [...]
Cabinet rallies around Starmer as Scottish Labour leader calls on PM to quit February 9, 2026 Every Cabinet minister, alongside former deputy leader Angela Rayner, has given public backing to Sir Keir Starmer’s position, following a speech from the Scottish Labour leader calling for the PM to step down. Possible leadership contenders, also including Wes Streeting, Shabana Mahmood and Ed Miliband, have posted supportive messages on social media in quick succession. [...]