New: Peter Mandelson's Firm Secretly Lobbied for Qatar Freeports
Global Counsel’s Qatar campaign raises fresh concerns about the effectiveness of UK lobbying transparency and the influence of foreign entities
A public affairs firm co-owned by Peter Mandelson has been running a previously undisclosed lobbying campaign on behalf of Qatar’s freeports, a Democracy for Sale investigation has found.
Successive British governments have courted Gulf investment in recent years. Foreign secretary David Lammy was in Dubai last week looking “to drive economic growth.”
Qatar - which is set to put £10 billion into the UK under a deal signed by Boris Johnson - has set itself up as a “world leader” in free zones. These low-tax areas are similar to freeports, which have been controversial in the UK with critics arguing that the flagship post-Brexit policy has no economic benefit and poses a money-laundering risk.
Mandelson’s firm, Global Counsel, has been lobbying the British government on behalf of the state-backed Qatar Free Zones Authority (QFZA), according to documents released to his newsletter under Freedom of Information legislation (and attached at the end of this story).
In a series of meetings last year, Global Counsel urged then investment minister Lord Dominic Johnson to twin UK freeports with free trade zones in the Gulf and arranged meetings between the minister and a senior member of the royal family involved in Qatar’s free zones.
The documents also reveal gaps in transparency releases with evidence of meetings not being recorded, lobbyists omitted from official records, and meetings given vague descriptions that did not mention Qatar or the Gulf.
Lobbyists are required to register their clients if they engage with ministers or senior civil servants. However, Global Counsel did not register the QFZA as a client on the official lobbying register. Concerns have been raised about loopholes in UK lobbying law that can allow foreign governments and businesses to avoid disclosure.
Anti-corruption experts said our investigation shows that the “UK’s system for lobbying transparency is not fit for purpose.”
“That lobbyists can seek to influence ministers on behalf of foreign regimes without appearing anywhere on the statutory register shows how broken the current system is,” said Steve Goodrich, head of research and investigations at Transparency International.
“Key to delivering Labour's pledge to restore confidence in politics is delivering greater transparency over those seeking to influence government,” he added.
Global Counsel did not respond to our requests for comment. The Department for Business and Trade confirmed receipt of our questions but did not respond to them.
‘The Dark Lord’
Lord Mandelson, once dubbed “the Dark Lord” for his role as a New Labour spin doctor, co-founded Global Counsel after leaving office. Billed as a ‘strategic advisory’ firm, Global Counsel has grown sharply, with over 130 staff worldwide. Previous clients include Nestle, Bank of America, Vodafone, and Peter Thiel’s Palantir, as well as now-sanctioned Russian oligarchs including Oleg Deripaska.
Mandelson is seen as close to Keir Starmer and has been tipped for a role in a Labour government or as ambassador to the US. Ahead of the general election, Global Counsel spent £36,000 seconding a staff member to the office of then shadow treasury minister Tulip Siddiq.
Mandelson stepped down from Global Counsel’s board in June but remains its president and holds a significant financial stake. When Barack Obama’s former campaign manager Jim Messina bought 20% of the firm earlier this year, it was valued at £30 million.
Global Counsel opened an office in Qatar Free Zone in February 2022 under the business name Global Counsel MENA QFZ-LLC. The Qatar Free Zones Authority, chaired by a government minister, was established four years earlier to develop “a cluster of world-class free zones” in the Gulf state.
‘Official sensitive’
The Pugin Room in Westminster, with its high ceilings and chandeliers, is a favoured meeting spot for members of the House of Lords. Here, in January 2023, Lord Dominic Johnson met Benjamin Wegg-Prosser. Johnson, a former business partner of Jacob Rees-Mogg and Tory donor and fundraiser, was elevated to the Lords and given a ministerial role by Liz Truss and later reappointed by Rishi Sunak. Wegg-Prosser, former director of strategic communications for Tony Blair, is now CEO at Global Counsel, which he co-founded with Mandelson.
Their meeting, described in official records as an “introductory meeting to discuss UK trade and investment flows,” quickly turned to Qatar, as documents disclosed show. Wegg-Prosser told Johnson that Qatar’s free zones “presented opportunities for the UK” and recommended “twinning” UK freeports with Gulf free trade zones, starting with Qatar and Saudi Arabia.
Wegg-Prosser advised Johnson to “meet key ruling families” in Qatar and Saudi Arabia and promised to provide a list of private equity firms for the minister to meet. In a section that was redacted but readable when pasted into a text editor, Wegg-Prosser revealed that Global Counsel was involved in six life sciences and tech projects in Qatar and worked closely with the $525 billion sovereign wealth fund Qatar Investment Authority.
The meeting ended with Johnson suggesting they “align their next visits to Qatar and meet for lunch to continue their discussions.” Two months later, they met again, with the discussion focusing on Qatar, including “Global Counsel’s operations in Qatar, Investment Zones, and Lord Johnson’s recent visit.”
Lord Johnson: Conservative donor, fundraiser, former investment minister
In June, Johnson met with the QFZA in the House of Lords. Among the guests was chair Sheikh Mohammed Al Thani, a senior member of Qatar’s ruling family. Documents show that Global Counsel’s MENA director Ahmed Helal attended the meeting, but the government’s transparency disclosures did not list Global Counsel.
A briefing note from the meeting also says that Johnson “had a breakfast meeting with QFZA Chairman Minister Ahmad Al Sayed in March 2023.” This newsletter could find no record of this meeting in official disclosures - or on Lord Johnson’s heavily populated ministerial account on Twitter/X - and the Department for Business and Trade did not respond to our request for details of this meeting.
Lobbying loopholes
A loophole in UK lobbying law means lobbyists acting only for foreign clients don’t have to register as they are not VAT registered. This likely means that Global Counsel’s Middle Eastern business would not have to register its clients with the Office of the Registrar of Consultant Lobbyists.
However, documents marked “official sensitive” show the June meeting was “requested” by Global Counsel CEO Wegg-Prosser, who also had two previous meetings with Johnson discussing Qatar interests. As a UK-based lobbyist, Global Counsel’s British operation would be expected to declare QFZA on the lobbying register. Global Counsel did not respond to our question about why QFZA was not registered as a client.
Official briefing note for meeting between Lord Johnson and Qatar Free Zone Authority
A Parliamentary report published earlier this year recommended tightening up lobbying laws to ensure that foreign influence campaigns are registered. (Page 22-23 here.)
George Havenhand, senior legal researcher at Spotlight on Corruption, said that our investigation showed that government needed to “remove the arbitrary ‘VAT exemption’ which shields lobbying by overseas firms and for foreign clients from public scrutiny.”
“If it’s ever going to restore public trust in politics, the government needs to close the loopholes and significantly increase transparency in lobbying,” Havenhand added.
Freeports have proved controversial in the UK. As Labour peer Prem Sikka previously told this newsletter: "Freeports are part of a never-ending transfer of wealth from people to large corporations, wealthy and political elites. The absence of transparency and public accountability is brewing a heady mix of corruption and crony capitalism that is bad for democracy and honest businesses."
Labour has so far said little about its approach to freeports.
Thanks for this research. Mandelson is a strange figure. How has he wielded so much political power for so long with such blatant corruption ? It can not be explained by the usual ruling class nepotism and back scratching. He was directly responsible for the rise in local terror and power counterinsurgency gangs created here in Northern Ireland during the UK state’s Operation Banner (1969-2007) by deciding to give them huge amounts of state money ‘to transition’ to democratic peace. Still transitioning 26 years on, violently holding their communities hostage (mostly Loyalists), many were directly involved in inciting and running the recent English and N.I. racist led violent riots. These thugs flourishing could be seen as direct result of the paying them the Danegeld policies of The Dark Lord. Yet there is yet to be justice for their ongoing victims (reference the abduction of murder of Belfast schoolboy Noah Donohoe) and as yet, no consequences for the likes of Mandelson and his all powerful mates. Perhaps this Northern Ireland Intelligence connection is key to his criminal impunity ? We will probably never know the truth of it all.
I confess that “In a section that was redacted but readable when pasted into a text editor” made me laugh out loud.