Jonathan Mendelsohn
Encyclopedia
Jonathan Mendelsohn is the director of general election resources for the British Labour Party
. He had previously been a spokesman and lobbyist for the gambling company PartyGaming
. He is the former chairman of Labour Friends of Israel
.
With Neal Lawson
and Ben Lucas, he founded LLM Communications
in 1997, a lobbying firm with notable access to the new Labour Government.
He had written to controversial Labour donor David Abrahams claiming he was one of Labour's "strongest supporters". In 1998 he was caught on tape along with Derek Draper
boasting to Greg Palast
, an undercover reporter posing as a businessman, about how they could sell access to government ministers and create tax breaks for their clients in a scandal that was dubbed "Lobbygate". Draper denied the allegations. In the same incident Mendelsohn was approached by an undercover journalist posing as a representative of American energy companies who were seeking to ignore environmental laws. Despite LLM's claim that "we believe that there will be a new breed of 'ethical winners' who will demonstrate that businesses no longer operate in a moral vacuum", Mendelsohn went on to advise the reporter to rephrase their plans into language that sounded "Earth-Friendly" going on to say "Tony [Blair] is very anxious to be seen as green. Everything has to be couched in environmental language - even if it's slightly Orwellian."
He donated money to the Peter Hain
Labour Party deputy leadership campaign
.
According to the Daily Telegraph, "Mr Mendelsohn is steeped in the north London Jewish community. He is a close friend of Lord Levy, who was at the heart of Labour’s cash for peerages affair."
He is married with four children. His wife, Nicola, was formerly deputy chairman of the advertising agency Grey London
, he is also known to be well respected within his community and is generally a very liked man .
Labour Party (UK)
The Labour Party is a centre-left democratic socialist party in the United Kingdom. It surpassed the Liberal Party in general elections during the early 1920s, forming minority governments under Ramsay MacDonald in 1924 and 1929-1931. The party was in a wartime coalition from 1940 to 1945, after...
. He had previously been a spokesman and lobbyist for the gambling company PartyGaming
PartyGaming
bwin.Party Digital Entertainment Plc is an online gambling company, formed by the March 2011 merger of PartyGaming plc and bwin. The world's largest publicly traded online gambling firm, it is best known for its online poker room PartyPoker.com and its sports betting brand Bwin. It is...
. He is the former chairman of Labour Friends of Israel
Labour Friends of Israel
Labour Friends of Israel is a lobby group promoting support within the British Labour Party for a strong bilateral relationship between Britain and Israel. It also seeks to strengthen ties between the British and the Israeli Labour party...
.
With Neal Lawson
Neal Lawson
Neal Lawson is a political commentator in the United Kingdom.He was born on the 21st March 1963 in Lewisham and brought up in 1960s/70s in Bexleyheath . He got into politics through his father who was a printer in Fleet Street and joined the Labour Party at 16...
and Ben Lucas, he founded LLM Communications
LLM Communications
LLM Communications was a political lobbying firm founded in 1997 by Neal Lawson, Ben Lucas, and Jonathan Mendelsohn. It had 20 employees and 40 clients. In July 1998 LLM was reported to have saved Tesco £40m by persuading ministers to abandon plans for a supermarket car-park tax...
in 1997, a lobbying firm with notable access to the new Labour Government.
He had written to controversial Labour donor David Abrahams claiming he was one of Labour's "strongest supporters". In 1998 he was caught on tape along with Derek Draper
Derek Draper
Derek William Draper is a former lobbyist, former editor of the LabourList website, and psychotherapist. As a political advisor during the 1990s he became widely known for his role in two political scandals, "Lobbygate" and "Smeargate".-Biography:Draper was educated at Southlands High School in...
boasting to Greg Palast
Greg Palast
Gregory Allyn Palast is a New York Times-bestselling author and a freelance journalist for the British Broadcasting Corporation as well as the British newspaper The Observer. His work frequently focuses on corporate malfeasance but has also been known to work with labor unions and consumer...
, an undercover reporter posing as a businessman, about how they could sell access to government ministers and create tax breaks for their clients in a scandal that was dubbed "Lobbygate". Draper denied the allegations. In the same incident Mendelsohn was approached by an undercover journalist posing as a representative of American energy companies who were seeking to ignore environmental laws. Despite LLM's claim that "we believe that there will be a new breed of 'ethical winners' who will demonstrate that businesses no longer operate in a moral vacuum", Mendelsohn went on to advise the reporter to rephrase their plans into language that sounded "Earth-Friendly" going on to say "Tony [Blair] is very anxious to be seen as green. Everything has to be couched in environmental language - even if it's slightly Orwellian."
He donated money to the Peter Hain
Peter Hain
Peter Gerald Hain is a British Labour Party politician, who has been the Member of Parliament for the Welsh constituency of Neath since 1991, and has served in the Cabinets of both Tony Blair and Gordon Brown, firstly as Leader of the House of Commons under Blair and both Secretary of State for...
Labour Party deputy leadership campaign
Labour Party (UK) deputy leadership election, 2007
The 2007 Labour Party deputy leadership election was a British political party election for the position of deputy leader of the Labour Party. John Prescott, the previous deputy leader, announced on 10 May 2007 that he was standing down from that position and that he would be leaving as deputy...
.
According to the Daily Telegraph, "Mr Mendelsohn is steeped in the north London Jewish community. He is a close friend of Lord Levy, who was at the heart of Labour’s cash for peerages affair."
He is married with four children. His wife, Nicola, was formerly deputy chairman of the advertising agency Grey London
Grey London
Grey London is one of the UK's largest communications agencies with clients including Samsung, P&G, GlaxoSmithKline, Allianz, the British Heart Foundation, Ryvita, Dairy Crest and Toshiba...
, he is also known to be well respected within his community and is generally a very liked man .