Keir Starmer Could Have Blocked Peerage For Ex-Spin Doctor

Keir Starmer could have blocked the peerage of his former spin doctor over his links to a convicted paedophile even after it was announced, it has emerged.

The prime minister is at the centre of a fresh crisis over his decision to put Matthew Doyle into the House of Lords last month.

On Tuesday, Labour suspended Doyle, who was the No.10 director of communications until last March, after it emerged he campaigned for Sean Morton, who had been charged with having indecent images of children.

Six months later, Morton, a former Labour councillor, admitted the charges.

Doyle’s peerage was announced on December 10, and the Sunday Times revealed he campaigned for Morton on December 27.

He formally became Baron Doyle of Great Barford on January 8 in a process known as having his “letters patent sealed”.

Starmer came under fire at prime minister’s questions, with Tory leader Kemi Badenoch accusing him of “stuffing government with hypocrites and paedophile apologists”.

Downing Street sources admitted that the PM became aware of the full extent of Doyle’s links to Morton on December 27, but his spokesman insisted there was “no precedent for withdrawing a peerage nomination after the announcement stage”.

“That’s why we’re undertaking wider reform to both vetting and appointment processes”, he said.

But the House of Lords later appeared to blow a hole in No.10′s argument.

A Lords spokesman said: “We cannot comment on specific confidential advice given by parliamentary officials.

“However our understanding is that under the Life Peerages Act 1958 a Peerage is created when the letters patent are sealed.”

That means Starmer could have acted to prevent Doyle becoming a peer before it became official on January 8.

The row has clear parallels to the scandal surrounding Peter Mandelson, who Starmer made the UK’s ambassador to Washington despite his known links to the convicted paedophile Jeffrey Epstein.

When further details emerged of the extent of Mandelson’s friendship with the billionaire financier became known seven months later, the PM sacked him.

Mandelson is now facing a police probe over allegations he passed market sensitive information to Epstein when he was business secretary in the wake of the global financial crash.