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Global Counsel, local avarice
Peter Mandelson might be giving unofficial advice to Keir Starmer — but in his day job running lobbying firm Global Counsel, he is hiring former Conservative ministers, reveals SOLOMON HUGHES
Peter Mandelson

PETER MANDELSON emerged as an “unofficial” adviser to Starmer’s team during the botched Hartlepool by-election. Morgan McSweeney, who is close to Mandelson, was Starmer’s chief of staff and is now Labour’s “elections director.”

Mandelson was one of the key — and controversial — architects of New Labour, shifting the party in a right-wing, pro-big business direction. Mandelson was Labour’s campaign director in the 2010 election: Labour lost that election, so, out of a job, Mandelson set up Global Counsel, which he co-owns with former Blair communications director Ben Wegg-Prosser.

Global Counsel promises to help big businesses with “Navigating politics, business and policymaking” and charges corporate clients for advice on how to “manage risk and see opportunities in politics, regulation and public policy.”

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