Starmer’s top aide Morgan McSweeney quits as Mandelson-Epstein furore engulfs Britain’s PM

LONDON –  Mr Keir Starmer’s chief of staff Morgan McSweeney quit his post on Feb 8, becoming the casualty of a furore

over the decision to appoint his ally Peter Mandelson

as the UK’s ambassador to Washington that now threatens the British Prime Minister’s own position.

The loss of his key aide is a hammer blow to Mr Starmer, who as recently as Feb 4 said he retained confidence in Mr McSweeney and considered him an “essential part of my team”. With the Irishman the architect of Labour’s 2024 election landslide win and Mr Starmer’s closest senior adviser, his departure leaves the Prime Minister exposed at a time when frustrated MPs are braying for change at the top.

Mr Starmer’s vulnerability was laid bare in the wake of Mr McSweeney’s departure, when two key Labour-linked groups suggested accountability should not end with the chief of staff. 

Mainstream, a network of Labour politicians from the left of the party, issued a statement saying: “All those involved in the disastrous appointment of Peter Mandelson as ambassador to the US must be held to account.” Compass, another left-wing pressure group, was blunter, saying in a statement: “In time, a new captain will be needed to steer the party.”

Opposition parties also wasted no time in turning the focus on Mr Starmer. “The buck stops with him,” said deputy leader of the Liberal Democrats Daisy Cooper in a statement, while main opposition Conservative Party leader Kemi Badenoch said on X that Mr Starmer should “take responsibility for his own terrible decisions”.

Mr Nigel Farage, the populist leader of the poll-leading Reform UK Party, predicted that Mr Starmer “won’t be far behind” Mr McSweeney. 

Mr McSweeney’s exit and the renewed speculation over Mr Starmer’s position were likely to be the focus of gilt traders on the morning of Feb 9. Investors have in the past reacted negatively to the prospects of Mr Starmer or Chancellor of the Exchequer Rachel Reeves leaving their posts, out of concern they could be replaced by colleagues less committed to fiscal rigour.

Even before Mr McSweeney quit, Cabinet minister Pat McFadden gave a round of morning interviews on Feb 8 highlighting the economic risks associated with unseating the leader. 

“It’s not good for the country to change his prime minister every 18 months or two years,” he told Sky News. “It’s leading to chaos and uncertainty economically, politically and reputationally around the world.”

It’s a sign of the turmoil that’s beset the Labour administration that Mr McSweeney is already the second chief of staff to leave in just 19 months. His departure leaves Mr Starmer with his inner circle much diminished at a time when his MPs are already casting around for a potential successor, with Health Secretary Wes Streeting and former deputy prime minister Angela Rayner touted as contenders. 

“The decision to appoint Peter Mandelson was wrong: he has damaged our party, our country and trust in politics itself,” Mr McSweeney said on Feb 8 in a statement. “I advised the prime minister to make that appointment and I take full responsibility for that advice.”

Mr Starmer said in a statement of Mr McSweeney: “He turned our party around after one of its worst-ever defeats and played a central role running our election campaign.” He added: “It is largely thanks to his dedication, loyalty and leadership that we won a landslide majority and have the chance to change the country.”

The latest ructions within Labour were sparked by revelations in the past 10 days that Mr Mandelson appeared to have leaked sensitive government information to Jeffrey Epstein while serving as a minister in the last Labour administration under then Prime Minister Gordon Brown. 

That put fresh scrutiny on the judgment shown by Mr Starmer in appointing someone who’d twice resigned from government in controversial circumstances and was nicknamed the Prince of Darkness because of his mastery of political manipulation.

On Feb 4, Mr Starmer acknowledged he’d known Mr Mandelson maintained ties with Epstein for years after the financier’s 2008 conviction on a child sex-trafficking charge, but said he’d been deceived about the nature of the relationship.

On Feb 5, he publicly apologised for “having believed Mandelson’s lies” and appointed him in the first place. Mr McSweeney was instrumental in advancing the former Labour politician for the role.

Mr Starmer sacked Mr Mandelson as envoy in September hours after Bloomberg detailed previously unreported e-mails between him and Jeffrey Epstein that cast new light on their relationship.

The US Department of Justice then released a fresh trove of e-mails just over 10 days ago, providing further details of how close Mr Mandelson had been to the financier.

The scale of alarm within Labour became apparent immediately after Mr Starmer’s appearance in the Commons on Feb 4 when the opposition Conservatives used an arcane parliamentary procedure to try to force the government to publish the material involved in Mr Mandelson’s vetting.

The government sought to insert caveats allowing it to withhold material on national security grounds, but a succession of Labour MPs – including Ms Rayner – made it clear they thought that ministers should hand the ability to make that determination to Parliament’s cross-party Intelligence and Security Committee.

Ultimately the government backed down and agreed to take that course, although the Metropolitan Police said there may be limits to what can be shared while it pursues a criminal inquiry into Mr Mandelson’s conduct. 

None of those papers have yet been published, and with Mr McSweeney out Mr Starmer is now unshielded in the event of further revelations.

The Prime Minister will hope that his aide’s departure dims the clamour from his Labour Party critics. But, amid record-low personal ratings and dire polling for his party, he was already girding for imminent electoral challenges that may prove existential. 

The first comes in the form of a Feb 26 special election in Gordon and Denton which ought to be a Labour stronghold. In May there’s a much wider set of local elections in which Labour is expected to suffer steep losses. Mr Starmer must now confront those challenges without the help of the man who devised Labour’s success in 2024 – provided he is still leading his party when the tests arrive.  BLOOMBERG