A senior aide to UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer has resigned over the uproar at the choice of Peter Mandelson as the nation’s ambassador to the US despite the former minister’s known friendship with sex offender Jeffrey Epstein.
In the latest move to rock the British government, Morgan McSweeney quit as the prime minister’s chief of staff and took the blame for advising his boss to appoint Mandelson to the prestigious post.
But the decision did not stop some Labour backbenchers from calling for Starmer to be replaced, highlighting the crisis of confidence in the leader and the turmoil within the governing party.
One former Labour cabinet minister, Lord Blunkett, said the party was behaving like “ferrets in a sack” and said MPs needed to end the disunity, but the latest move only heightened the media commentary about a leadership spill.
Starmer named Mandelson as the UK ambassador to the US in December 2024, but admitted last week he knew at the time that the former Labour cabinet minister had stayed in touch with Epstein after the sex offender served time in prison.
That admission has heightened questions about the prime minister’s judgment despite his public apology for the appointment and his explanation that Mandelson lied about the Epstein friendship during security vetting for the US post.
McSweeney took the blame for poor advice and quit on Sunday in London (early on Monday, AEDT) in a move that appeared to be designed to ease the pressure on the prime minister.
“The decision to appoint Peter Mandelson was wrong. He has damaged our party, our country and trust in politics itself,” McSweeney said in a statement.
“When asked, I advised the Prime Minister to make that appointment and I take full responsibility for that advice. In public life responsibility must be owned when it matters most, not just when it is most convenient. In the circumstances, the only honourable course is to step aside.”
McSweeney, 48, helped direct the Labour campaign that delivered victory at the 2024 election, but he was blamed by colleagues for political mistakes and became a regular target in media coverage about Starmer.
The resignation adds to a series of departures from the prime minister’s office since the July 2024 election. The previous chief of staff, Sue Gray, left after only 93 days in the post.
Calls for Starmer to quit
In a sign that the resignation will not stop some critics from trying to drive Starmer out of office, The Telegraph of London quoted an anonymous Labour source who said McSweeney did not make the Mandelson appointment and should not be the one taking responsibility.
Labour MP Brian Leishman, a member of the Socialist Campaign Group within the party, called on Starmer to consider stepping down.
“McSweeney was at the heart of the political mistakes made since the general election,” said Leishman, who entered parliament in July 2024.
“He helped create this factionalism in the Labour Party. The country and party will be better off after today.
“The PM must consider following McSweeney’s lead one last time and doing the same.”
The statement highlighted the push by the left of the party for a shift in direction from Starmer’s centrist approach, with former deputy leader Angela Rayner seen as the likely champion for a different course on budget and welfare policy.
Rayner, however, is facing an inquiry over her admission that she did not pay tax properly on one of her residential properties, the cause of her resignation from the ministry last year.
Disaffected MPs on the right have suggested health minister Wes Streeting as a future prime minister, but his critics have claimed he was too close to Mandelson in the past.
‘When people see a party acting like ferrets in a sack, they draw the conclusion. So once again, let’s try and get our act together.’
David Blunkett, former Labour minister
Another Labour MP in the Socialist Campaign Group, Richard Burgon, blamed the “nasty factionalism” in the party for the leadership turning a blind eye to Mandelson’s relationship with Epstein.
“We need a total clear out at the top of the party,” Burgon said on X, without naming Starmer as one of those who should be removed.
Lord Blunkett, who was a cabinet minister during the prime ministership of Tony Blair, spoke on the BBC against a leadership spill.
“I appreciate after all these years in the Labour Party, after 60 years, that things are dire,” he said.
“But they’re made more difficult by briefings and counter-briefings. When people see a party acting like ferrets in a sack, they draw the conclusion. So once again, let’s try and get our act together.”
Before his elevation to the House of Lords, David Blunkett served as secretary of state for education and employment, home secretary, and secretary of state for work and pensions.
With Labour MPs openly divided over the government’s leadership and direction, opponents predicted the removal of Starmer after elections due in early May for local councils and the parliaments of Scotland and Wales.
“My money says Starmer won’t be far behind after Labour’s disaster in the elections this coming May,” said Reform UK leader Nigel Farage, who has gained ground in the polls while Starmer has lost support.
Conservative Party leader Kemi Badenoch said Starmer had blamed Mandelson for lying and was now letting McSweeney take the blame for the appointment.
“Keir Starmer has to take responsibility for his own terrible decisions. But he never does,” she said.
David Crowe is Europe correspondent for The Sydney Morning Herald and The Age.Connect via X or email.