Scottish Secretary did not declare meeting with Mandelson's firm

Scottish Secretary Douglas Alexander met with Peter Mandelson's lobbying firm to discuss policy within weeks of becoming a minister but it was not publicly declared for a year and a half.

The government published more than 1,000 pages of documents relating to Lord Mandelson's appointment as the UK's ambassador to the US on Monday.

The papers include messages between Lord 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.

Among them are files which confirm Alexander's meeting with Global Counsel in summer 2024 was only added to public transparency logs earlier this year.

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 22 July Alexander wrote to Mandelson: "Thanks for the time yesterday. Send me [redacted] contact details when you can and I'll reach out to him."

That same day, Mandelson wrote an email introduction putting Alexander in touch with someone from Global Counsel.

A week later 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".