Scottish Government official questioned over Mandelson ties

One of the most senior civil servants working for the Scottish Government has reportedly been questioned over his relationship with Peter Mandelson.  

The Director-General for Economy has been questioned over his contact with the former UK ambassador to the US, following his nine-year tenure as chief economist and global group director at Global Counsel, a lobbying firm founded by Mandelson, according to The Herald. 

Officials have said Gregor Irwin's contact with the disgraced peer was “solely in a professional capacity” and added that there are “no ongoing links”.  

Global Counsel has become embroiled in controversy over its past dealings with the convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein and, according to reports, companies like Tesco, Bank of America, Barclays Bank, Phoenix Group, and Klarna have ended their relationships with the lobbying firm.  

Co-founded by Mandelson after Labour lost the 2010 general election, the firm has been named more than 800 times in the Epstein Files. 

Last month, the US Department of Justice released more than three million documents held by the FBI in relation to Epstein. Among those were emails that appear to reveal that Epstein played an instrumental role in helping Global Counsel launch, as he helped advise on strategy and connected Mandelson with potential clients.  

According to a post on the company’s LinkedIn page, Irwin joined the firm in 2014, a time when there were only 12 employees, and “played a central role” in helping it “grow to 100+ people across five offices” by the time he left in 2023. 

The first minister, John Swinney, recently instructed permanent secretary Joe Griffin to carry out a review to establish whether Scotland’s interests had been affected by Mandelson’s conduct.

However, The Herald has reported that when the Scottish Government was asked if Griffin intended to take evidence from Irwin, a spokesperson would only say that the economist had confirmed “his contact with Peter Mandelson took place solely in a professional capacity”. 

The spokesperson also confirmed, when asked if the Scottish Government had assurances or would seek assurances that there are no ongoing professional links to Mandelson. They said: “Yes. Mr Irwin has confirmed that there are no ongoing links to Peter Mandelson.” 

They added: “It is a matter of public record that Gregor Irwin is a distinguished economist who previously worked for the UK Government and the Bank of England, in addition to Global Counsel.” 

Asked for more information generally on the investigation, the spokesperson said the Scottish Government was limited to documentary evidence, and Griffin was carrying out an “investigatory audit of records” to identify any meetings, government papers or correspondence involving the disgraced peer during his time as a member or representative of the UK Government.  

There was no timeline given for the completion of the investigation, and it has not been confirmed whether the findings will be published or whether any formal terms of reference will be released. 

Robin McAlpine, from the pro-independence think tank Common Weal, said: “The person in charge of Scotland’s economic development strategy was working for Mandelson and his corporate clients one day and sitting behind a desk inside the Scottish Government the next. There was no cooling-off period or proper scrutiny of this appointment.” 

He added: “We need a public inquiry or some sort of large-scale investigation because when the public hears things like Peter Mandelson’s right-hand man running the economy the rest of us have to live with, it questions whether government is working for them at all.”