The SNP has intensified pressure on Labour's Scottish Secretary, Douglas Alexander, calling for his resignation following the release of documents linking him to former US ambassador Lord Peter Mandelson. The papers, published earlier this week, reveal that Mandelson—who was dismissed from his Washington post last year due to his association with convicted paedophile Jeffrey Epstein—introduced Alexander to contacts at Global Counsel, a lobbying firm founded by Mandelson.
An email sent while Alexander served as a trade minister shows him thanking Mandelson for the introduction. SNP MSP Alex Kerr expressed concerns that Mandelson was “putting Douglas Alexander in a room with unknown individuals” and demanded that Alexander disclose “exactly who he met with and exactly what was discussed.”
Kerr’s remarks follow reports that Global Counsel sought work with companies linked to the Russian and Chinese governments, including the Russian state investment firm Rusnano and state-owned China International Capital Corporation. This has raised questions about whether “national security has been threatened by meetings at the instruction of Peter Mandelson,” Kerr said.
The SNP MSP stated: “The public will be extremely concerned about who, at the behest of the disgraced Lord Mandelson, Douglas Alexander was spending his time with.” He added that during Mandelson’s vetting process, “a significant number of red flags were raised by the security services about his relationship with a number of his clients from China and Russia.”
Kerr claimed Alexander was “a mere puppet for his master Mandelson” and described the situation as “sinister.” He concluded: “Douglas Alexander must resign and the public must be given full disclosure on whether our national security has been threatened by meetings at the instruction of Peter Mandelson.”
