Boss of Mandelson’s Global Counsel quits amid Epstein file fallout
The chief executive and co-founder of Peter Mandelson’s lobbying firm Global Counsel has quit with immediate effect after revelations about his and his company’s connection with Jeffrey Epstein caused clients to sever or reconsider ties to the firm.
Benjamin Wegg-Prosser has stepped down with immediate effect, the group’s board said in a statement, which also confirmed Peter Mandelson’s 21 per cent stake in the company had been fully divested.
“With the necessary progress made on the divestment [of Peter Mandelson’s share in the company], Benjamin Wegg-Prosser, founder and chief executive of Global Counsel, has decided to step down,” Global Counsel said. “The board has asked Rebecca Park to take on the leadership of GC. I want to thank Ben for his loyalty and commitment to GC.”
The departure comes after Morning Wire revealed Jeffrey Epstein had played an integral role in the agency’s infancy, and that Wegg-Prosser had been in semi-regular contact with Epstein after he had been convicted of soliciting prostitution from a minor.
Top brass at the advisory, which has worked with blue-chip firms like Barclays, Santander and Palantir, had spent months trying to distance itself from Peter Mandelson after he was ousted as US ambassador in September because of revelations about the depth of his relationship with Epstein. Its board has been locked in the thorny process of trying to divest the former deputy Prime Minister’s stake in the company, and it has repeatedly denied ever having a commercial relationship with Epstein.
But emails released by the US Department of Justice showed ties with Epstein also stretched to Wegg-Prosser and the company’s group director Maree Glass, who was an aide to Mandelson during his time in government. Maree Glass remains in post, according to the company’s website.
Global Counsel ties to Epstein deeper than Mandelson
The documents showed Wegg-Prosser met with Epstein to discuss Global Counsel’s business plan at the financier’s New York flat in 2010 while he was under house arrest. They also revealed the Labour party spin doctor had helped arrange a trip to Russia for Epstein, which eventually fell through, and that Mandelson had shared a list of the company’s potential clients with the sex trafficker.
Years later, Wegg-Prosser also shared with Epstein a statement that appears to show Mandelson distancing himself from the disgraced paedophile, despite other emails in the tranche showing private conversations between the pair to have been at their height.
A person close to Wegg-Prosser previously said he had been acting as a “secretary” for Mandelson in that instance, and that he had no knowledge of the depth of the relationship between his co-founder and Epstein.
Fallout fans concerns of wider lobbying industry
The revelations have plunged Global Counsel into the biggest crisis of its 16-year existence. Barclays has already cut ties with the agency, and Morning Wire understands several of the group’s other major clients are reevaluating their commercial relationship.
One senior public affairs executive said the agency had become a “toxic brand” and would struggle to attract new business given politicians’ likely aversion engaging with the company and its lobbying campaigns.
The episode has also shone fresh light on Global Counsel and standards in the wider lobbying industry. The Mandelson-founded agency is not a member of the public affairs sector’s industry body, the PRCA, which prohibits peers from engaging in lobbying under its standards code.
Morning Wire understands the PRCA is planning to write to every director of public and corporate affairs next week “to remind them of the higher compliance standards” offered by advisories that have signed up to its code of conduct.