If ever there was a reason to introduce transparency regulations for lobbyists now, it's this. Lord Mandelson has teamed up with some of his mates and this week launched a lobbying agency.

As reported in PR Week, the firm will be called Global Counsel LLP. It is expected to be chaired by Mandelson, run by his long-standing ally Ben Wegg-Prosser and has the backing of WPP Group.

The firm "will initially advise foreign companies, due to Cabinet Office restrictions, although this could change in time", reports David Singleton.

The introduction of regulation for lobbyists promised by the coalition government in May, however, has slipped back another 6 months. The proposed statutory register of lobbyists is now timetabled for a third bill on political and constitutional reform in May 2012 (according to the Cabinet Office's Business Plan 2011-2015 (pdf).

"The next big scandal waiting to happen," is how David Cameron described lobbying in February this year. "I believe that lobbying is getting out of control... This isn’t a minor issue with minor consequences. Commercial interests - not to mention government contracts - worth hundreds of billions of pounds are potentially at stake... We must be the party that sorts all this out... I believe it’s time we shone the light of transparency on lobbying in our country and forced our politics to come clean about who is buying power and influence... We can’t go on like this."

A wait of over two years before even starting to "sort it out", however, is apparently fine by Dave.