In Defence of Matthew Doyle

There is one thing above all that Keir Starmer is brilliant at, and that’s throwing colleagues under a bus, and failing to take responsibility himself for things that go wrong. It’s something that means he has very few people around him who are totally loyal to him. They know that at the first whiff of cordite, it is they who he will turn on, and get rid of. It’s why the atmosphere in Downing Street has been so toxic.

Let’s look at the case of Matthew Doyle. He is someone who has served the Labour Party in one capacity or another for much of his adult life. He served both Tony Blair and Gordon Brown for the best part of 15 years, until 2012, when he joined David Miliband’s International Rescue Committee.

In 2021 he was appointed Labour Party Director of Communications by Keir Starmer, and in July 2024 became the Downing Street Director of Comms. It was a job he lasted only 8 months in.

Starmer then awarded him a peerage in December 2025. It then emerged that he had campaigned for a Labour councillor in Scotland, Sean Morton, who, it turned out had been charged with paedophile offences some months prior to standing for re-election. He was charged with the offences in December 2016, so quite why he stood again, only he can know.

In Doyle’s statement resigning the Labour whip last week, he gave a full explanation of what had happened. In the statement he addressed the fact that he had also met Morton in 2019 as he had been warned about Morton’s state of mind. He wrote:

“I want to apologise for my past association with Sean Morton. His offences were vile and I completely condemn the actions for which he was rightly convicted. My thoughts are with the victims and all those impacted by these crimes.

At the point of my campaigning support, Morton repeatedly asserted to all those who knew him his innocence, including initially in court. He later changed his plea in court to guilty. To have not ceased support ahead of a judicial conclusion was a clear error of judgment for which I apologise unreservedly.

Those of us who took him at his word were clearly mistaken. I have never sought to dismiss or diminish the seriousness of the offences for which he was rightly convicted. They are clearly abhorrent and I have never questioned his conviction.

Following his conviction any contact was extremely limited and I have not seen or spoken to him in years. Twice I was at events organised by other people, which he attended, and once I saw him to check on his welfare after concerns were raised through others.

I acted to try to ensure the welfare of a troubled individual whilst fully condemning the crimes for which he has been convicted and being clear that my thoughts are with the victims of his crimes. I am sorry about the mistakes I have made. I will not be taking the Labour whip.

For the avoidance of any doubt, let me conclude where I started. Morton’s crimes were vile and my only concerns are for his victims.”

I ask you this question: Does Matthew Doyle deserve to be thrown under to the wolves for this? Does he deserve the oppropbrium that has been poured on him from Starmer, cabinet ministers and Labour MPs alike. And the opposition for that matter? Does he deserve to have his whole reputation tarnished forever because he campaigned for an officially endorsed Labour candidate? It could hardly be worse if he himself was being accused of paedophilia.

Look at the bit of the statement I have highlighted in bold. Wouldn’t we all do the same in the circumstances? If we were told someone we knew was on the edge? I know I would, regardless of what they had done. It’s called being compassionate. In the Labour Party, it seems compassion is not universally available to all.

In case you all think I am standing up for a political mate, I am not. I’ve had a few encounters over the years with Matthew Doyle, and probably met him only two or three times. He facilitated Keir Starmer appearing at my Edinburgh Fringe show in 2022 and was a pleasure to deal with. I’ve interviewed him on the radio a couple of times but that’s about it. We’ve never met socially.

I just find it stomach-turningly disgraceful that a good man is being hung out to dry in the most awful and public way. Slag me off for saying that if you want to, but frankly, I’d rather stand with Matthew Doyle, than some of the people who are throwing him under a bus with scant regard for his own mental health or wellbeing. They disgust me. And Keir Starmer disgusts me most of all. No loyalty, no sense of decency, but full of political expediency. That, in the end, will be his downfall.

The mob in full cry is an ugly beast.