Douglas Alexander meeting with Mandelson firm left off lobbying list 'in error'

A policy meeting between Scottish Secretary Douglas Alexander and Peter Mandelson’s lobbying firm was not declared for a year and a half, it has emerged.

The talks took place weeks after Alexander was appointed as trade minister in summer 2024, preceding his Scotland Office post.

But the meeting was only added to public logs earlier this year after what the UK Government said was an “error”.

Files confirming discussions between Alexander and Mandelson’s firm Global Counsel, which has since collapsed, have been made public in a dossier published by the government.

It is part of wider disclosures around Mandelson’s appointment as the UK ambassador to the United States.

Mandelson left that role in the wake of damaging revelations about the extent of his relationship with deceased paedophile financier Jeffrey Epstein.

The files include messages sent between Mandelson and government figures, with Alexander thanking the Labour grandee for support for his political career.

Alexander was made trade minister on 6 July 2024 and a meeting with Mandelson’s colleague was arranged shortly afterwards. In a message dated 22 July, Alexander asked for the person’s contact details, saying: “I’ll reach out to him.”

Mandelson composed an introductory email on the same day and on 31 July Alexander was back in touch to say he would have a “proper teach-in session” with the person that dat.

In a follow-up exchange days later, Alexander told Mandelson: “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.”

Mandelson founded Global Counsel in 2010 and owned shares even after resigning from its board in 2024.

Meetings between ministers and lobbyists are supposed to be reported every three months. Transparency International, which campaigns against corruption, shared evidence with the BBC showing the details were not put on the public register until March this year.

A note on the government website said an update was made “to reflect a meeting which was previously omitted in error”.

Juliet Swann of 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.”

The Department for Business and Trade said the meeting had been properly minuted and that it “takes its transparency responsibilities seriously”.