With Benjamin Wegg-Prosser stepping down as co-founder – alongside Peter Mandelson – the geo-political and corporate lobby firm has entrusted Rebecca Park to steer the firm into safe reputational public affairs waters following the toxic Epstein association with the former UK ambassador to the USA. Park was named as one of The Mace’s top 100 lobbyists in our 2026 special report on the New Political Influencers. Global Counsel is a ‘market leading strategic advisory business’ – ie lobby firm – that thrives off uncertainty and ‘significant market opportunity arising from increasing geo-politcal uncertainty’. In its company reports it says it ‘helps companies and investors across a wide range of geographies and sectors anticipate the way in which politics, regulation and public policymaking create both risk and opportunity. The firm operates from offices in the UK, Europe, Asia, the Middle East and the USA. Its core belief is that the more geo-political uncertainty there is in the world – and no president in US history has been perhaps as unpredictable or volatile as Donald Trump – then there will be a need for expert advice to navigate around the maze of regulatory uncertainty and corporate arbitrage opportunities. One part of the good news for Global Counsel in appointing Rebecca Park as CEO is that the firm was already beginning to see increased revenue from the financial services sector which Park is a well known figure and an expert in understanding. Peter Mandelson resigned at the time of his sacking last year by Keir Starmer following backlash regarding the firm’s link to Jeffrey Epstein. It had been reported that the firm had begun looking for a buyer for Mandelson’s 21 % stake before his sacking. Company accounts state revenue for 2024 was £21.60 million, up from £16.25 million in 2023 with a 33% revenue growth and £670,000 profit before tax. With such growth behind him, Wegg-Prosser (Mandelson’s special advisor in government as well as Tony Blair’s former head of comms) had avoided – until their latest cache of emails- becoming entangled in the mire of Mandelson scandal created by the increasingly concerning and incriminating succession of emails and photos contained in the latest batch of Epstein files released by Congress. But when the new emails revealed the extent of how Mandselson and Wegg-Prosser had consulted Epstein when founding the company in 2010, Mandelson’s protegee was put in an impossible position for the CEO of a company that specialised in sorting out other people’s or country’s problems. The last thing it needed was its own reputational crisis. So what’s next for Global Counsel, whose clients include Palantir, Barclays and Vodafone and which has long had deep connections with Labour ? Barclays have already resigned as a client and other blue chip clients have followed including GSK, the large pharmaceutical company. Rokos Capital Management have also ‘terminated’ any relationship with the peer. One of Park’s first moves as the new CEO was to issue a statement to clients confirming that Mandelson would no longer have shares in the company and the ‘divestment’ of his shares in the company was imminent. Mandelson left Global Counsel board back in 2024 when the board was re-structured (with Archie Norman as chairman) following a significant new investment from The Messina Group, a lobby group founded by former Barack Obama and David Cameron political adviser Jim Messina whom The Mace exclusively interviewed back in 2021, LINK HERE. “The completion of this transaction will bring to an end any connection between Global Counsel and Peter Mandelson,” said its chair, Archie Norman. “Global Counsel is independently governed and led, and remains focused on delivering high-quality, independent advice to our clients.” Norman wrote to clients in an email. Rebecca Park was previously managing director at Global Counsel, as well as a director since 2024 and a senior adviser for the financial services practice. She has worked in both law and public policy for over two decades, with a peer-reviewed reputation “for excellence” in advising financial services firms how to navigate the political and policy regulatory agenda as it impacts commercial decisions. She is a former lawyer who was previously director of corporate affairs for the trade organisation UK Finance, and a member of the executive committee for the European Banking Federation. In 2021, she joined Global Counsel where she advises financial services firms on policy and regulation. Since 2022 she has been the firm’s senior director for financial services. It’s easy to see why Park was an obvious candidate for the CEO appointment. According to company filings, the Investor Services practise benefitted from new PE client wins and ‘improved deal flow in the context of a more stable interest rate environment’. Expect to see Park leading the charge for Global Counsel winning more cross border mandates and (as the company describes it) ‘capitalis...