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Global Counsel, the advisory firm co-founded by Lord Peter Mandelson, the UK’s new ambassador to Washington, has been cleared of failing to disclose lobbying carried out on behalf of Qatar thanks to a heavily criticised loophole.
The Office of the Registrar of Consultant Lobbyists (ORCL) said on Friday that Global Counsel was not required to disclose the meetings with a UK minister on behalf of Qatar, as the agency’s Middle East-based subsidiary was paid for the work by the Qatari Freezone Authority.
Global Counsel met three times with a government minister in January, March and June 2023, the ORCL found.
However, it concluded Global Counsel “did not submit inaccurate reports” in its quarterly declarations of lobbying work, which had not included the meetings.
The decision is likely to renew criticism of a loophole in the UK’s lobbying regime that allows advisory firms not to register work carried out in the UK if it is done through their overseas subsidiaries. Under the current rules, international business cannot register as “consultant lobbyists” if they do not pay VAT in the country.
This so-called VAT loophole was heavily criticised by a parliamentary committee last year after it came to prominence following the collapse of Greensill Capital in 2021, a scandal that embroiled former prime minister David Cameron for his work lobbying on behalf of the financial company.
“Exemptions for those not eligible to pay VAT . . . provide significant loopholes and should be revoked,” the House of Commons public administration committee recommended last year.
The ORCL launched its investigation into Global Counsel’s work for Qatar in October 2024 following a complaint by Spotlight on Corruption, an anti-corruption group. The complaint was made after journalist Peter Geoghegan, who runs the newsletter “Democracy for Sale”, had written about the meetings following a series of Freedom of Information requests.
Geoghegan’s reporting showed Benjamin Wegg-Prosser, Global Counsel’s London-based chief executive and co-founder, met with Lord Johnson of Lainston, who was then minister in the Department for International Trade, three times between January and June 2023 and discussed “twinning” UK freeports with free trade zones in Qatar, among other things.
The ORCL said in its judgment on Friday that Global Counsel had not failed to disclose the meetings as the Qataris were clients of the company’s Middle East subsidiary, Global Counsel MENA. Companies that are not registered in the UK for VAT purposes could not register as a consultant lobbyist in the UK, the ORCL said.
“Based on assurances from GCL [Global Counsel Ltd], the Qatari Freezone Authority (“QFZA”) was a client of Global Counsel MENA, not of GCL,” the ORCL said in its summary of its investigation published on Friday.
“Based on assurances provided, GCL did not receive any payments from QFZA, directly or indirectly, for the periods investigated.”
The regulator said it had, however, provided “advice on transparency regarding which legal entity is being represented in communications” to Global Counsel.
Susan Hawley, executive director of Spotlight on Corruption, said: “This decision illustrates that the UK’s rules on lobbying transparency are clearly not fit for purpose if they allow foreign lobbying firms to operate entirely without scrutiny.”
She added: “The glaring loophole that exempts firms that do not pay VAT has been pointed out time and again . . . It is long overdue for the government to undertake major lobbying transparency reform so that the public can know who is lobbying their elected representatives and why.”
According to Global Counsel’s 2023 UK accounts the company recorded £4.7mn in turnover from its businesses outside Europe in its accounts for 2023.
Global Counsel opened its first Middle Eastern office in Doha in 2022 at the Msheireb Qatar Free Zone.
Mandelson at the time described it as “Global Counsel’s latest office” in a press release jointly put out with HE Ahmad al-Sayed, a government minister and chair of the Qatar Free Zones Authority.
“Qatar offers unique strategic advantages for businesses who are looking to expand regionally and globally,” Mandelson said at the time.
In January the FT reported than Mandelson still held shares in Global Counsel. He has pledged to put his shares in a “blind trust” until they are sold since being appointed to Washington.
Global Counsel did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Additional reporting by Dan McCrum
