SNP demand probe into Alexander meeting with Mandelson's firm

The SNP has urged the prime minister's independent ethics adviser to investigate whether Scottish Secretary Douglas Alexander broke the ministerial code by not declaring a meeting with Peter Mandelson's lobbying agency.

The BBC revealed the meeting with an employee at Global Counsel in the summer of 2024 was not publicly declared until nearly a year and a half later.

It was Alexander's first external meeting as trade minister and occurred weeks after his appointment.

The Department for Business and Trade told the BBC this administrative error was corrected by officials in March "as soon as it became apparent".

It also confirmed the meeting was attended by civil servants and formally minuted.

A spokesperson added: "The department takes its transparency responsibilities seriously."

A note on the UK government website states the log was "previously omitted in error".

UK law requires ministers to report meetings with lobbyists every three months.

Anti-corruption campaign group Transparency International UK shared evidence with the BBC suggesting the public record was only updated to include the meeting on 25 March of this year.

This was after MPs ordered the publication of Mandelson's contacts with ministers on 4 February.

The SNP's Westminster leader Dave Doogan has now written to Sir Laurie Magnus, the prime minister's independent adviser on ministerial standards, asking for an "urgent investigation" into Alexander's conduct.

"Despite clear obligations and processes to transparently log ministerial meetings, Mr Alexander failed to publicly declare this meeting with Peter Mandelson's lobbying firm for a year and a half," the letter states.

"Natural suspicion and concern about the failure to declare this meeting is also amplified by the fact that Mandelson's lobbying firm had well known links to Chinese state organisations and sanction-hit Russian oligarchs.

"These links were all red flagged as areas of concern shortly before he took up his post as the UK's ambassador to the US."

Doogan asked Sir Laurie to look into the depth of Alexander's dealings with Mandelson and Global Counsel, as well as its business clients, including meetings and decisions taken following any contact.

Prime Minister Keir Starmer appointed Mandelson as the UK's ambassador to the US in December 2024, but sacked him nine months later after new details about his relationship with the late sex offender Jeffrey Epstein emerged.

The government published more than 1,000 pages of documents relating to Lord Mandelson's appointment on Monday.

The papers include messages between Lord Mandelson and ministers exchanging advice and news as well as criticism of Labour MPs, the prime minister, and the operation of his office at 10 Downing Street.

Among them are files which confirm Alexander's meeting with Global Counsel in summer 2024 was only added to public transparency logs earlier this year.

Publication of those messages reveal that within weeks of Alexander's appointment as trade minister on 6 July that year, Mandelson was arranging an introduction to one of his colleagues.

On 22 July Alexander wrote to Mandelson: "Thanks for the time yesterday. Send me [redacted] contact details when you can and I'll reach out to him."

That same day, Mandelson wrote an email introduction putting Alexander in touch with someone from Global Counsel.

A week later on 31 July, Alexander contacted Mandelson to tell him he had a meeting that afternoon with the unnamed person "for a proper teach-in session".

Mandelson then follows up on 2 August to ask how the meeting went.

Alexander said: "It was the single most enlightening conversation I've had in the last month on trade so I see why you hold him in such high regard."

The meeting with Global Counsel, which took the form of an online call, was Alexander's first on record with any external organisation as trade minister.

Global Counsel was co-founded by Mandelson in 2010. He resigned from its board in 2024, but continued to own shares.

The company collapsed earlier this year after losing contracts following revelations about Mandelson's friendship with Epstein, owing millions of pounds to its employees and in tax.

Its clients previously included GSK, Shell, JPMorgan, OpenAI and the English Premier League.

Juliet Swann, nations and regions programme manager at Transparency International UK, said: "Declarations of government meetings are the only light shone on the lobbying of ministers at Westminster so to fail to record meetings with influential lobbyists undermines the principle of transparency.

"The lesson from this saga should be that open government in the first place serves the public better than belated dumps of data long after the event."

Messages published on Monday confirm regular contact between the two men.

In messages just after the 2024 general election, Alexander appears to credit Lord Mandelson with his return to parliament as MP for Lothian East, referencing support over several years.

Alexander has also been approached for comment.