Peter Mandelson comes under fire for wooing Qatar’s super-rich

Peter Mandelson has been accused of turning a blind eye to Qatar’s shameful human rights record as he expands his lobbying company for the super-rich.

The Labour peer and close adviser to Sir Keir Starmer last week opened a new arm of his Global Counsel consultancy in Qatar’s capital, Doha.

Despite mounting criticism of the regime, Lord Mandelson brazenly cited a ‘partnership’ with the Gulf state’s investment trading area – which he hailed for offering ‘unique strategic advantages for businesses’.

Qatar has been condemned over reports it has mistreated migrant workers helping to build infrastructure for this year’s World Cup, for persecuting gay people and for denying certain basic rights to women.

Campaigners last night called on Lord Mandelson, who held senior posts under Tony Blair and Gordon Brown, to reflect on Qatar’s abuses.

Nick McGeehan, of human rights pressure group Fair/Square, said: ‘The Gulf is an easy place for politically influential people to make lots of money, and they generally do that by providing advice and lending legitimacy and credibility to governments with very bad human rights records. Peter Mandelson’s venture would certainly appear to fall into that bracket.’

The peer is no stranger to controversy over links to authoritarian states. He was criticised last year for assuring Chinese officials that critics of Beijing’s human rights record would be ‘proved wrong’ while trying to win over a delegation.

During a meeting convened by Global Counsel and the China Council for the Promotion of International Trade, he said that the West was ready to ‘call out China’s foreign policies and adherence to international rules and norms’, but added he was confident that China could overcome this.

Now, he has taken the controversial decision to set up a new office for Global Counsel in Doha, his first in the Middle East. He was pictured alongside Ahmad Al-Sayed, a Qatari minister of state, cutting a ribbon at the opening of the office.

Mr Al-Sayed, said: ‘Lord Mandelson and his colleagues have built a fast-growing, international business and we are delighted that they have chosen to establish their first Middle East office at the Qatar Free Zone.’

Mr Mandelson said: ‘Qatar offers unique strategic advantages for businesses who are looking to expand regionally and globally.’

This week Qatari officials will meet the All Party Parliamentary Group on Qatar in London, where they are expected to discuss the World Cup, which starts in November.