Keir Starmer’s future is in the balance after a crisis over the appointment of Peter Mandelson as ambassador to Washington claimed the UK prime minister’s closest aide. Morgan McSweeney quit as chief of staff on Sunday, saying he took “full responsibility” for his advice to hire the Labour veteran as US envoy, despite Mandelson’s known ties to the convicted pedophile financier Jeffrey Epstein. He was followed out of Downing Street by Tim Allan, who quit as Starmer’s director of communications. But it isn’t lost on Starmer’s allies and opponents alike that the man who actually appointed Mandelson remains in post.
No. 10 officials were bracing for cabinet ministers to privately tell the premier to stand aside or threaten their resignations if he doesn’t, according to people familiar with the matter who spoke anonymously in order to be candid about the turmoil at the top of the Labour Party. One aide to a cabinet minister said it was 50-50 whether Starmer would last the week. Starmer deliberated for days over whether he could afford to carry on without McSweeney, a person familiar with those discussions said. Losing the mastermind of Labour’s 2024 election landslide leaves the prime minister exposed at a time when frustrated members of government are braying for change at the top, with Health Secretary Wes Streeting and former Deputy Prime Minister Angela Rayner touted as contenders to succeed him.
