The lobbying firm co-founded by Peter Mandelson collapsed owing £4.5m to creditors including over half a million pounds to HM Revenue and Customs, the Press Association reports.PA says:double quotation markGlobal Counsel went into administration in February amid the fallout from the scandal surrounding Mandelson’s historical links to paedophile financier Jeffrey Epstein.Figures filed on Companies House showed the firm owed £4.54m when it went bust – with only £2.

7m in assets for preferential creditors,HM Revenue and Customs is among the list of creditors, with the taxman owed £645,789,Administrators at Interpath were appointed in February for the London-based lobbying business, which said it suffered a significant financial impact from a swathe of customers cutting ties with the firm amid pressure over its association to the former politician and US ambassador,This left directors with no choice but to bring in administrators, it said at the time, despite having insisted that Mandelson no longer had any shareholding, role or influence over it,The firm’s collapse on 20 February happened three days before Mandelson was arrested by police following allegations the former Labour minister passed sensitive information on to Epstein during his time as business secretary.

Mandelson was released on bail and has not been charged.At one stage, Mandelson had a 21% stake in Global Counsel, but is not listed as a creditor in the “statement of affairs” listing on Companies House.Mandelson co-founded the firm with Benjamin Wegg-Prosser in 2010 after Labour lost the general election.Mandelson stepped down from its board about two years ago.Global Counsel has worked with a roster of clients including Palantir, GSK, Vodafone, OpenAI, TikTok and the English Premier League.

The Foreign Office refused to hand over a summary of Peter Mandelson’s security vetting to the civil servant tasked with compiling documents detailing his appointment as ambassador to the US, she has told a Commons committee.A former Labour MP has joined opposition parties calling for Keir Starmer to face a Commons committee to examine whether the prime minister misled parliament as the government’s crisis surrounding the appointment of Peter Mandelson as ambassador to Washington continues.The Foreign Office unit tracking potential breaches of international law by Israel in Gaza and more recently Lebanon has been closed because of cuts within the department, the Guardian can reveal.The UK government budget came in below its annual borrowing target by £700m, official figures show – but the Iran war is likely to blow a hole in Rachel Reeves’s carefully calculated fiscal “headroom” over the coming months.Zack Polanski, the Green leader, has said that he hopes to replicate the success of New York mayor Zohran Mamdani as he pledged to bring high streets back to life.

On a campaign visit in Manchester, he said that he had met members of Mamdani’s team.He said:double quotation markIt was a real privilege to meet with members of his team, and this has happened various times, hear how they were so successful.I think the key point I hear over and over again though and agree with entirely is that it’s less about the tactics, sure his social media is phenomenal, his method of communication is phenomenal, but more than anything it was about the message.It was about the message of communities coming together, challenging the wealth and power of multimillionaires and billionaires.It was about communities finding their voice, communities being supported by politicians.

That’s what Zohran’s done to make New York a more affordable city and it’s what I intend to do in this country to make sure it’s a country that everyone can afford to live in,For a full list of all the stories covered on the blog today, do scroll through the list of key event headlines near the top of the blog,One of the features of modern politics is electoral volatility,Voters don’t stick to the same party,The Economist published some research recently saying: “In 2024 some 40% of Britons who had voted in 2019 switched parties, the highest share since the 1930s.

If a general election were held tomorrow, by our calculations nearly 50% of voters would switch parties,” And there is some fresh evidence of that today in research published by Ipsos,It has published polling relating to the Senedd elections in Wales,Summing up the findings, Gideon Skinner, head of politics at Ipsos, says:double quotation markOur latest findings suggest a Welsh electorate that is currently weighing its options amidst significant pessimism about the economy and public services, and dissatisfaction with the performance of the Welsh Labour government,While Plaid Cymru holds a slight lead in voting intention, have the most popular leader, and are strongest on standing up for the interests of Wales, they still have to convince the public they are ready for government and can deliver on the key issues.

But the poll also shows that more than half of respondents (polled at the start of April) said that, even though they had a preference, they might change their mind before polling day.Homicides involving a knife or sharp instrument recorded by police forces in England and Wales fell 21% last year, while overall knife crime dropped by 10%, the Press Association reports.PA says:double quotation markSome 172 knife homicides were logged by forces in 2025, down from 217 in 2024 and the lowest annual number since comparable data began in 2010/11.The fall helped drive down the total number of homicides last year, which stood at 503, down 6% from 534 in 2024, according to the Office for National Statistics (ONS).Levels of police-recorded knife crime are now at their lowest since the early stages of the Covid pandemic.

A total of 49,151 knife offences were logged by forces in England and Wales in 2025, down from 54,548 in 2024.The figure is lower than the 49,190 offences recorded in 2021/22, but higher than the 44,728 in the first year of the pandemic, 2020/21.Two-thirds of police forces in England and Wales (29 out of 44) recorded a year-on-year fall in incidents of knife crime in 2025.They include the three largest forces: the Metropolitan police, where offences dropped 17%; Greater Manchester, also down 17%: and West Midlands, down 15%.Nearly half of forces (20 out of 44) saw a fall in homicides, including the Met and Greater Manchester.

The latest ONS data also shows shoplifting offences fell slightly last year, down from 516,611 in 2024 to 509,566 in 2025.The drop may reflect a change in the way shoplifting offences are recorded by police forces.The latest episode of the Guardian’s Politics Weekly UK podcast is out.It features Pippa Crerar and Kiran Stacey talking about the Peter Mandelson vetting controversy.Zack Polanski, the Green party leader, has revealed that he has apologised to Jeremy Corbyn for suggesting in the past that the former Labour leader was tainted by antisemitism.

In an interview with the New Statesman, Polanski, who is Jewish, blamed his previous thinking about Corbyn on this issue on the fact that he was “lost in the propaganda”.Referring to 2018, when he posted a message on Twitter saying that as Jew he could not support Corbyn, Polanski said:double quotation markI think if I knew what I knew now – you can only do the best with the information you have at the time – then, yes, I would have supported Jeremy Corbyn at that time.Referring to his tweet, Polanski said:double quotation markI’ve apologised to Jeremy privately about that.Corbyn has been a lifelong campaigner for Palestinian rights and, when he became Labour leader, party membership surged.Some new members were particularly attracted by his criticism of the Israeli government and there were multiple complaints about some of these activists being antisemitic – as well as claims by Corbynites that these problems were being “weaponised” against Corbyn by his critics in the party and the media.

Polanski told the New Statesman that he believed antisemitism was used as an issue to attack Corbyn.double quotation markI say this now as a Jewish party leader where there’s constant accusations of antisemitism [towards me].I take antisemitism really seriously, and so where there is antisemitism that needs to be dealt with robustly.[But] I’ve undoubtedly seen lots and lots of examples, particularly reported in the press, where it’s very clearly criticism of the Israeli government and the ongoing genocide in Gaza, and isn’t antisemitism.Polanski also said he felt some guilt about one of those being “unfair” to Corbyn over this issue at the time.

double quotation markWhen I see a man who’s been an anti-racist campaigner most of his life … I just don’t think it passes the smell test to believe that he’s an antisemite,Polanski said, as Green party leader now, he wanted to “push back against false allegations of antisemitism [in his party], but also make sure that actual antisemitism is also being dealt with”,In response to the interview, Labour said that Polanski’s comment about criticism of Corbyn on this issue being “propaganda” showed that the Greens were not serious about tackling antisemitism,Anna Turley, the Labour chair, said:double quotation markZack Polanski’s rewriting of history is beyond the pale,Not only is it downright offensive, but it is completely wrong.

Labour has a proud tradition as an anti-racist party.But under Jeremy Corbyn’s leadership, we endured the most shameful period in our history and the equalities watchdog found that we had acted unlawfully in our discrimination and harassment of the Jewish community.For Polanski to dismiss that as ‘propaganda’ shows his own determination to court the worst of the worst into his own ranks.Keir Starmer booted the antisemites out of the Labour party when he became leader.The Greens have now opened their arms to them.

The contrast could not be clearer.The lobbying firm co-founded by Peter Mandelson collapsed owing £4.5m to creditors including over half a million pounds to HM Revenue and Customs, the Press Association reports.PA says:double quotation markGlobal Counsel went into administration in February amid the fallout from the scandal surrounding Mandelson’s historical links to paedophile financier Jeffrey Epstein.Figures filed on Companies House showed the firm owed £4.

54m when it went bust – with only £2.7m in assets for preferential creditors.HM Revenue and Customs is among the list of creditors, with the taxman owed £645,789.Administrators at Interpath were appointed in February for the London-based lobbying business, which said it suffered a significant financial impact from a swathe of customers cutting ties with the firm amid pressure over its association to the former politician and US ambassador.This left directors with no choice but to bring in administrators, it said at the time, despite having insisted that Mandelson no longer had any shareholding, role or influence over it.

The firm’s collapse on 20 February happened three days before Mandelson was arrested by police following allegations the former Labour minister passed sensitive information on to Epstein during his time as business secretary,Mandelson was released on bail and has not been charged,At one stage, Mandelson had a 21% stake in Global Counsel, but is not listed as a creditor in the “statement of affairs” listing on Companies House,Mandelson co-founded the firm with Benjamin Wegg-Prosser in 2010 after Labour lost the general election,Mandelson stepped down from its board about two years ago.

Global Counsel has worked with a roster of clients including Palantir, GSK, Vodafone, OpenAI, TikTok and the English Premier League,The confidential health records of half a million British volunteers have been offered for sale on Chinese website Alibaba, the UK government has confirmed,Hannah Devlin has the story,And here is an analysis of Cat Little’s evidence to the foreign affairs committee by Paul Lewis, the Guardian’s head of investigations,He says Little arrived at the hearing “armed with the most deadly of civil servant weapons: an audit trail.

”John Crace has written his sketch about Cat Little’s evidence to the foreign affairs committee this morning.It may have been hard work.“Cat’s USP is saying things that appear to be interesting on first hearing that turn out to be quite dull when you’ve had time to reflect on them,” he writes.“A talent that has taken her near to the top of the civil service.”And here is some Guardian video from the hearing.

Shabana Mahmood has been in France today signing a new UK-France deal relating to intercepting small boats.Here are some pictures from her trip.Three hereditary peers have been sworn in as life peers, so they can continue to sit in the House of Lords, the Press Association reports.Hereditary peers are set to vacate their seats on the red benches during the next fortnight, as the current parliamentary session comes to an end.But Liberal Democrats Lord Addington and Earl Russell and independent crossbencher the Earl of Kinnoull will now retain their right to speak and vote in parliament as life peers.

Sir Philip Barton, another former permanent secretary at the Foreign Office, will give evidence to the Commons foreign affairs committee at 9am on Tuesday next week, the committee has announced.Barton was in post when the appointment of Peter Mandelson as ambassador to the US was announced, but he had left by the time the department had to decide whether or not to approve his developed vetting.It is thought he was not happy about the way his team was under pressure to push through the appointment.Morgan McSweeney, Keir Starmer’s former chief of staff, is also giving evidence to the committee on Tuesday, but a time for that has not been announced yet.There is a lot of colourful detail in Tim Shipman’s cover story for the Spectator about the Peter Mandelson vetting controversy and the sacking of Olly Robbins.

Shipman claims that, the day before it was announced the Peter Mandelson was going to be the ambassador to Washington, Keir Starmer sent the peer a text message saying:double quotation markYou’ll be brilliant in challenging circumstances, … And after many years of our discussions, we get to work together side by side.I really look forward to that.Shipman also claims that Starmer now thinks he went too far in what he said criticising Robbins after he sacked him in the Commons on Monday.Shipman says:double quotation markIt will be a costly mistake.The ‘payoff to beat’ is the £370,000 paid to Philip Rutnam when he was forced out of the Home Office in 2020.

But it is understood that [former cabinet secretary Chris] Wormald’s compensation (not yet revealed) was double or more than that (‘It will make your eyes bleed,’ says a source), and Robbins can expect even more.‘We’re looking at half a million quid minimum to make this go away,’ says one serving official.Others think double that.‘Olly was earning a million a year in the private sector,’ a friend of Robbins says.‘He is a younger man, his loss of future earnings is higher and the price for the reputational damage is huge.

’Robbins’s supporters say he only really wants to serve in government,He told one friend: ‘I was an OK banker, but I was a brilliant civil servant,’ A former colleague predicts: ‘I think Olly will get his job back when we get a new prime minister,’Karl Turner has now published a statement on X saying that posting his letter to the speaker about Keir Starmer earlier (see 1,24pm and 1