No reprimand for Scottish Secretary over meeting with Mandelson firm

Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer has told Scottish Secretary Douglas Alexander he faces no further action after failing to declare a meeting with Peter Mandelson's lobbying company for 18 months.

In an exchange of letters, Starmer said that while the "administrative oversight is regrettable", Alexander "acted appropriately" once the issue was identified.

BBC Scotland News revealed the meeting with an employee at Global Counsel in the summer of 2024 was not publicly declared until March of this year.

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".

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

The revelation prompted the SNP to write to the prime minister's independent ethics adviser, urging them to investigate whether Alexander broke the ministerial code.

Starmer appointed Mandelson as the UK's ambassador to the United States 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 Mandelson's appointment last week.

The papers include messages between 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.

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

In a letter to the prime minister on Monday and published by the UK government on Wednesday, Alexander confirmed that he asked Mandelson, "given his past experience as EU Trade Commissioner, to suggest the name of a British trade policy expert from his time at the European Commission, with whom I could meet".

He wrote: "The name suggested was a former official of the European Commission, working on trade policy, who by that time worked at Global Counsel."

Alexander added that trade department officials "facilitated, attended and minuted the subsequent meeting," which he said "covered general trade policy across the globe" with "no discussion of named businesses or of any ongoing role for Global Counsel".

The letter concluded: "In March 2026, in the process of complying with the Humble Address, I became aware that this meeting had been omitted from the DBT (Department for Business and Trade) transparency website and instructed officials to rectify this error."

In his response, Starmer said: "I am grateful for your swift action to rectify the oversight in declaring the meeting you held on 31 July with someone who at the time worked for Global Counsel, after its omission from the relevant transparency publication came to light.

"While this administrative oversight is regrettable, you acted appropriately when the issue was identified, including engaging with the Independent Adviser on Ministerial Standards, and I consider no further action to be needed."

Responding to the exchange of letters, Conservative Party Chairman Kevin Hollinrake MP said: "This is an extraordinary 'oversight' from Douglas Alexander and is yet more evidence of the cosy relationship he has enjoyed with the 'best pal' of the world's most notorious paedophile.

"It is clear that the influence of Peter Mandelson and Global Council stretches right across Government. Labour Ministers must now come clean about any further undeclared meetings with Global Council staff or clients."

SNP Westminster leader Dave Doogan MP said Alexander's position was "every bit as untenable as Keir Starmer's".

He added: "The fact that Douglas Alexander – a friend of Peter Mandelson – has now been supposedly cleared by Keir Starmer – a friend of Peter Mandelson – shows complete contempt for the public who have watched the chaos of the Mandelson scandal unfold."