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Politics Home | Starmer Faces Renewed Pressure To Remove Chief Of Staff Over Mandelson Affair
(Alamy)
3 min read
Prime Minister Keir Starmer is under pressure from Labour MPs to sack his chief of staff, Morgan McSweeney, over his role in the appointment of Peter Mandelson as US ambassador.
On Tuesday, Mandelson, who was a key figure in the New Labour administrations of Tony Blair and Gordon Brown, announced that he was resigning from the House of Lords amid the growing scandal over his relationship with the paedophile financier Jeffrey Epstein. The government has also given material to the police after newly disclosed files showed Mandelson sharing confidential and high-level UK government information with Epstein.
While most Labour MP fury is directed toward Mandelson, there are also renewed calls for Starmer to remove McSweeney, who was instrumental in the decision to appoint him as the UK ambassador to the US. Starmer sacked Mandelson from his ambassador role in September as more details about his links to Epstein emerged.
After speaking to multiple Labour MPs on Tuesday, PoliticsHome understands that the Parliamentary Labour Party (PLP) is split into three broad groups on the question of McSweeney’s future.
The first group are Labour backbenchers who want McSweeney removed immediately. They were strongly critical of the PM’s chief of staff long before the latest Mandelson revelations, arguing that he should take responsibility for the Downing Street errors and misjudgements that have overshadowed the Labour government since it entered office in 2024.
For this group, McSweeney’s role in the decision to bring Mandelson into government ought to be the final straw.
Downing Street was warned at the time by Labour peer Maurice Glasman that the decision to appoint Mandelson as the UK ambassador in Washington was “unwise”. He told PoliticsHome in September that Mandelson’s links with Epstein were frequently raised during President Donald Trump’s inauguration, which Glasman attended.
“He should be sacked, 100 per cent. And he should not be moved to a cosy number in HQ either,” said one Labour left MP.
“He should be sacked and removed from the party. There are plenty of people who were expelled for liking a tweet. Arguably, he is involved in one of the biggest scandals of our time.”
Another Labour MP said that in terms of the mood within the PLP, “the direction of travel” is towards McSweeney having to go.
However, the second group, comprised of Labour MPs who are loyal to Starmer, are not pushing for McSweeney to go, as they believe that if he goes, then the Prime Minister’s own position will be at serious risk. Credited as the key strategist behind Labour’s 2024 victory, McSweeney is widely seen as the driving force of the Starmer project.
Before the latest Mandelson revelations, there were suggestions in Westminster that McSweeney would resign following the May local elections, which are expected to be painful for Labour.
However, the third group, which also contains some Starmer loyalists, believe the Prime Minister should remove his chief of staff now to shore up his position in office. They have told PoliticsHome that Labour MPs on the left of the party will not be satisfied until there is a major change at the top of government, and that McSweeney’s departure might be the only way to abate their anger.
The level of restlessness within the PLP is why the government is not expected to whip Labour MPs on Wednesday if the Conservatives go ahead with plans to bring a motion calling for the publication of all documents relating to Mandelson’s appointment as ambassador to Washington.
“The one thing I am surprised about is that the Tories were not demanding this earlier. I will be doing my best to avoid the Chamber tomorrow,” one Labour told PoliticsHome.
Additional reporting by Harriet Symonds.
